Short-tailed Albatross Fledges at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Endangered Bird’s Departure Carries More Hope for the Species
Midway Atoll, HI - With little fanfare, substantial trepidation, and loads of excitement across the Pacific and beyond, the short-tailed albatross chick has fledged from the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument. It happened just as most followers of the bird’s short life drama expected, the bird slipping away from the Atoll’s Eastern Island sometime during the day, with no one there to watch. When the chick first hatched, some experts wondered whether its parents could find enough food in the warmer and less productive waters of the Central Pacific to sustain and raise a healthy chick to fledging. That question has now been answered.
This stout and amazingly tough chick is the first of its kind to hatch and now take to the seas from any location other than Japan. After a successful courtship over the past four years on Midway, last January the chick’s parents, an eight year-old female and 24-year-old male, laid and successfully hatched a whitish egg resembling a miniature football. They then spent the next five months finding and bringing food to their chick every one to three days. Masters of the wind, they logged tens of thousands of miles, soaring between Midway and the nutrient-rich feeding grounds some 1,000 miles to the northwest. They foraged, mainly from the surface, on squid and flying fish eggs that days later they regurgitated to the chick back at the Refuge. In May, after months of steady feeding and growth, the chick was losing most of its downy look and began stretching and exercising its wings. The health and strength of the chick is a testament to the care and skill of its parents.
Anticipating its fledging, the chick was banded on June 8. On June 11, the bird was seen wandering from its nest area to the shoreline as the instinct to fly and paddle out to sea became stronger. It continued to walk and flap near the shoreline, as well as paddle in the near-shore waters to strengthen its wings and legs. The chick’s first swim in the ocean lasted 15 minutes. It walked into the lapping waters, paddled out 50 meters, submerged its head for a quick look, sipped some sea water, and then practiced flapping before paddling back to the shore. The chick was last seen the evening of June 15. By June 17 it was gone, most likely headed in a northwesterly direction to the rich and productive waters near Hokkaido, Japan, perhaps to join others of its kind.
“Once one of the world’s rarest birds, the endangered short-tailed albatross continues to recover,” said Refuge Manager Sue Schulmeister. “Sightings of the species have been relatively rare over the years, even on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In the years to come, following this event, perhaps that will start to change.”
Short-tailed albatrosses depend on the marine resources and habitats of the Monument and the North Pacific to survive. They spend seven to nine months on the islands to court, reproduce, and nest, and the rest of the year at sea, resting and spending countless days soaring in search of food. The chick will hopefully grow to become an adult, all the while refining the skills necessary to live the demanding and fascinating life of its relatives across the globe. That is, if it is able to avoid ingesting too much plastic, getting caught in long-line fishery nets and marine debris, or being eaten by sharks – hazards faced by every albatross in our modern world. This bird, so far, is proving it knows how to survive.
Fish and Wildlife Service Superintendent Tom Edgerton, one of seven co-stewards of the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument, said of the fledging, “This event is a milestone in our international efforts to expand the range and population of this species. It reminds and brings home to us the responsibility we all have, with involvement and support of the public, to continue to work diligently together, especially for species like the albatross that depend heavily on and can’t survive without both the land and the sea.”
Photos and video available at www.papahanaumokuakea.gov.
Midway Atoll, HI - With little fanfare, substantial trepidation, and loads of excitement across the Pacific and beyond, the short-tailed albatross chick has fledged from the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument. It happened just as most followers of the bird’s short life drama expected, the bird slipping away from the Atoll’s Eastern Island sometime during the day, with no one there to watch. When the chick first hatched, some experts wondered whether its parents could find enough food in the warmer and less productive waters of the Central Pacific to sustain and raise a healthy chick to fledging. That question has now been answered.
This stout and amazingly tough chick is the first of its kind to hatch and now take to the seas from any location other than Japan. After a successful courtship over the past four years on Midway, last January the chick’s parents, an eight year-old female and 24-year-old male, laid and successfully hatched a whitish egg resembling a miniature football. They then spent the next five months finding and bringing food to their chick every one to three days. Masters of the wind, they logged tens of thousands of miles, soaring between Midway and the nutrient-rich feeding grounds some 1,000 miles to the northwest. They foraged, mainly from the surface, on squid and flying fish eggs that days later they regurgitated to the chick back at the Refuge. In May, after months of steady feeding and growth, the chick was losing most of its downy look and began stretching and exercising its wings. The health and strength of the chick is a testament to the care and skill of its parents.
Anticipating its fledging, the chick was banded on June 8. On June 11, the bird was seen wandering from its nest area to the shoreline as the instinct to fly and paddle out to sea became stronger. It continued to walk and flap near the shoreline, as well as paddle in the near-shore waters to strengthen its wings and legs. The chick’s first swim in the ocean lasted 15 minutes. It walked into the lapping waters, paddled out 50 meters, submerged its head for a quick look, sipped some sea water, and then practiced flapping before paddling back to the shore. The chick was last seen the evening of June 15. By June 17 it was gone, most likely headed in a northwesterly direction to the rich and productive waters near Hokkaido, Japan, perhaps to join others of its kind.
“Once one of the world’s rarest birds, the endangered short-tailed albatross continues to recover,” said Refuge Manager Sue Schulmeister. “Sightings of the species have been relatively rare over the years, even on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In the years to come, following this event, perhaps that will start to change.”
Short-tailed albatrosses depend on the marine resources and habitats of the Monument and the North Pacific to survive. They spend seven to nine months on the islands to court, reproduce, and nest, and the rest of the year at sea, resting and spending countless days soaring in search of food. The chick will hopefully grow to become an adult, all the while refining the skills necessary to live the demanding and fascinating life of its relatives across the globe. That is, if it is able to avoid ingesting too much plastic, getting caught in long-line fishery nets and marine debris, or being eaten by sharks – hazards faced by every albatross in our modern world. This bird, so far, is proving it knows how to survive.
Fish and Wildlife Service Superintendent Tom Edgerton, one of seven co-stewards of the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument, said of the fledging, “This event is a milestone in our international efforts to expand the range and population of this species. It reminds and brings home to us the responsibility we all have, with involvement and support of the public, to continue to work diligently together, especially for species like the albatross that depend heavily on and can’t survive without both the land and the sea.”
Photos and video available at www.papahanaumokuakea.gov.
