Some species are endangered, others are in danger..........
Albatrosses like this young one, trying to fledge,
fall into the latter category.
Each morning on Pihemanu, I walked to Monk Seal Point,
swinging wide around the seals resting on the beach
and watching razorfish and 'ama 'ama pop air at the surface.
Sometimes I would swim, following wrasse and parrotfish
as the sun grew out of a turquoise sea.
The sand here is coral and shell - the volcanic rocks
lie far below the surface, buried after thousands of years
of sinking into the ocean floor. Subsiding like all Hawaiian Islands.
Slowly.
Baby Albatrosses go slowly too, hatching in March
and gradually sprouting feathers to replace soft down
like you see on the face of X310........
The bird you see in this photo was not banded. There are so many
birds hatched, it would seem impossible to imagine banding them all?
I did know her as an individual though, stopping by to mark her progress
each monring as I went about my study of plastic on her sands.
First day, she was at the edge of the Naupaka, probably not having
moved more than a few feet from the "nest" where she was born.
My notes for 15 June 2009 say, "An adult albatross flew by me,
knicking my arm as it flew past - Laysan Chick at beach."
She was just moving out of the bushes onto the sand.
Next day she was at the water's edge, holding her wings outstretched,
testing the wind.
She had already tested the water once
and was knocked back..........
The young birds, once fairly completely feathered, head to the water
and swim out. They don't fly out, they swim until about at the edge
of the atoll.
Then they fly.
But they must be strong enough to swim before they can fly.
I will post another photo in the series of watching this bird
all in Memory of X310
In hopes of ridding the ocean of plastics.
