Sad news today...U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Pete Leary, who blogs from Midway Atoll, has reported the demise of the volunteer program due to budget cuts for the refuge. Not only does this mean that Midway will be far less accessible to anyone looking to do field work there, it means it will be considerably more difficult to get things done at all, from Laysan Duck suveys to albatross banding to pulling invasive weeds. The volunteers carry out the bulk of Fish and Wildlife's biological field work out there...at least Pete will now have a lot more time out of the office.
I found myself spending a good chunk of 2009, as a volunteer, way out there in the Pacific. To say it was an epic experience would be a profound understatement. The islands are filled with great birds, like the celebrity pair of Short-tailed Albatross that have fledged chicks the last two years on Eastern Island. Hopefully funding will be reinstated soon...or else it will be much more difficult to plot my prophecied return!
Sooty Terns swarm over Eastern Island in spring and summer.
A juvenile Great Frigatebird surveys its facemelting domain.
A Hawaiian Monk Seal and Brown Noddies.
White Tern chick in back of the "duck house".
Grey-backed Terns look immaculate.
Life is good with Red-tailed Tropicbirds overhead (and underfoot).
Good ol' Rusty Bucket.
A Black-footed X Laysan Albatross hybrid tries unsucessfully to flirt with some Laysan Albatrosses, while a Laysan chicks looks on in it's Chewbaccaesque plumage.
The front of the "float" that a Safely Anonymous Person and myself made for the Songkran (Thai New Year) parade. It was an amazing float.
