It's November Already?

This year is just flying by for me out here and it's hard to believe it's already November.  More birds are coming back every day, including a few Laysan albatross.  The female Short-tailed albatross on Eastern Island still hasn't shown up yet, but we're hoping she will soon.  We had no flight this past week, so it has kind of been business as usual out here.   

Our rain catchment area was cleaned out this week.  The algae gets pretty thick in there so it has to be cleaned out every year or two.

The naupaka bushes in front of the office were trimmed, so we have a better view of the old sperm whale skeleton. 

 Here is one of the very few Laysan albatrosses on island right now.

 This is the male Short-tailed albatross that hangs out near the runway on this island.  It still has a little bit of brown on its neck, but will probably finally have its full adult plumage next year.

 Here are a couple more of the winter visitors to the island.  These 2 species are very similar, but the one on the left is a Pectoral sandpiper and the one on the right is a Sharp-tailed sandpiper.

 Konrad and Dale found some old costumes for our Halloween party at Capt. Brooks.  They added some marine debris to the costumes.