Back From Vacation

I'm back from a 2 week Christmas vacation in Alexandria, VA.  I like to get back to the cold every once in a while so I'm reminded that 60 degrees on Midway is actually pretty warm.  The end of December was pretty busy around here with 2 monument groups visiting for a few days each.  One group had members of the Monument Management Board, and one group had the communication team from the monument.   The yearly albatross nest counters also were here (while I was gone).  The numbers aren't official yet, but it looks like there are fewer nests than last season.  That's kind of expected since last year was a pretty good year and it usually drips after a high year.  

Some other big news is that another Short-tailed albatross chick hatched on Eastern Island on Jan. 9th.  The pair took a year off last year, so this is the third chick that has hatched at Midway.   I haven't gotten over there yet to get any photos, but we got some remote video.  Here is the story with a couple of links in it:    

http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/72881378762/at-last-the-first-video-of-a-brand-new-rare-and

 On the last post I showed you a photo of my backyard on Midway with all of the albatross.  This is a view of my backyard in Alexandria on a snowy night.

 Dasha and I went to Arlington Cemetery on Christmas Day.  They place wreaths on many of the graves.

 This is the Monument Management Board group checking out Sunset Seep on Eastern Island.

 I didn't have many photos for this post, so I went out this morning after brunch and took some photos from the North Beach.

 These birds have a nice spot overlooking North Beach.  The sweet alyssum has been really fragrant the past few days.

 You can see Charlie Barracks in the distance.

There's always some bird getting in the way of my other bird photos.