satellite view from PMNM
E komo mai; welcome! Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is surrounded by a lei of foam in the middle of the North Pacific; it's a beautiful, special place.

Not only are there albatross on Midway, but many other interesting kinds of wildlife, both on the land and in the sea. Please enjoy exploring FOAM, an educational blog actively done while on Midway from May through August 2010. Posts are added from off-Midway, as information becomes available. If you're interested in a particular topic, please use the search box or the alphabetical list of "labels" along the left side of the blog page.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Laysan Albatross Chick "Jewelry"

Hi Barb! I'm sorry I've missed you. Right now I'm texting you from the North Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles away from Midway. Yes, I am up here finding ono kine (good) seafood for me and my chick.
But I thought our FOAM blog followers might want to see this picture I have of a young Laysan Albatross chick (see the fluffy down at the top of its leg.) The plastic, "aux" band (for "auxiliary," meaning extra) on its left leg will be on just until the bird gets all its non-downy, sturdy, adult feathers. The aux band is easy to see and makes it simple for you volunteers to identify each chick...to know who survives and who doesn't. So far, this chick #P300 is alive and well in LAAL plot #L10, where I live. The metal band on the right leg will stay on the bird its whole life, and will identify it wherever it travels. Pretty important "jewelry," right?!

3 comments:

footesea said...

I think the proper term is "bling." I guess with all that flying around the ocean you're not hip to today's lingo Auntie Moana. But your texting is impressive.
Anyway, see any kohola heading north where you are? What else have you seen up there?

Auntie Moana said...

"Bling!" So that's what they call jewelry now-a-days; thanks for keeping me current, Footesea! You're right, I've flown around the Gyre a few times, but can't keep up with urban lingo.

Barb texted me that she saw spinner dolphins on her trip to Eastern Island yesterday! They were surfing the bow wave of her boat.

Kohala: I'll bet Uncle Ulua would know something about Hawaiian Humpback Whales from this past winter season; hope he checks into this comment thread.

Uncle Ulua said...

Koholā, Hawaiian Humpback Whales, eh? Yeah, we saw dem big buggahs back dis pas' winter; we saw 'em off da South Beach, where da deep water close to shore. Dey gone now, swim all da way back to Alaska. Bumbye December maybe dey be back heah.

I try find out 'bout oddah whachoo call "cetaceans," here at Midway.