Back Again

It was a long vacation, but I'm finally back.  I was in Washington D.C. for most of that time, but also went to Bismarck, N.D. for training and to visit my parents and a few old friends.  It was a bit cool there with -30 wind chills, then 91 in D.C. two weeks later. 

There was a big change while I was gone.  Our island population is getting smaller.  Twelve positions have gone away, so the folks left on island will get a bit busier.  Here are a few photos that I took on vacation, and a few new ones, too.

The prediction for the blooming of the cherry trees in Washington D.C., was off by about a week, so the crowd gathered around the one blooming tree.

 

Here is the same spot a few days later.  There were more trees to take pictures under so this one wasn't so popular anymore.

 

A lot of people were out enjoying the blossoms.

Some cherry blossoms with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

 

 The chicks have grown quite a bit, and there are quite a few around.

There are a lot of Laysan ducklings in the seeps now.  

 

We had some visitors from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.  They gave us grant money to help get rid of the verbesina on Eastern Island, and now Sand Island.  I'm glad they got to see what great work the crew is doing with their grant.  Here, they are on a tour of Eastern Island.

 The Sooty terns have also come back since I've been gone.  Eastern Island is loud again.

A Coast Guard C-130 came through for crew rest after conducting a search for a person who fell off of a sailboat.  They called off the search without finding him. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10029553/Search-for-missing-sailor-who-fell-into-Pacific-Ocean-called-off.html

 A group from NOAA also came to pick up marine debris while I was off Island.  They got a decent amount in their short time here.

 I think you can see why the albatross eat lighters out in the ocean.  They look a lot like the squid on the left.

 I found this dead Pacific Golden Plover while I was checking seeps on Friday.  This bottle cap was probably picked up by an albatross in the ocean, brought back to Midway and fed to a chick, then either was coughed up with other non-digestible stomach contents or was left after a dead chick decomposed, then found by this plover which then caused its death.

We got out to check on the reef.  This spectacled parrotfish is just about to take a chomp out of the coral.