<<<< Previous Day   October 3, 2000      Next Day >>>>  

Beach on Midway Atoll

The True Eastern Island Inhabitants

At 8:00 am the LCM, (Landing Craft Mechanized) boat left the tug dock for Eastern Island. I tagged along with Fish and Wildlife staff. Crossing the dredged channel we focused on the sea in hopes of seeing Spinner Dolphins (below) entering the lagoon for the day. We had no luck but everyone assured me that I would have a chance to see some within the week. As we pulled up to the dock on Eastern a large Hawaiian Green Turtle was sunning on the beach. She seemed a little upset that her quiet, lazy morning was disturbed by this noisy boat and quickly swam away.

On the dock was the first evidence of the effects of debris on the Laysan Albatross otherwise known as the "gooney bird’. A large carcass of an Albatross lay in the sun. Through natural decay you could see the contents of the stomach: lighters, bottle caps, pumice and an asthma inhaler. It is hard to imagine that the bird would eat these items but they instinctively eat anything that floats on top of the water. I am sure that before plastics were invented this would have been fine. 

Now the Albatross (below) feed the plastic to their chicks believing they are good parents. The chicks are in danger from the debris in three ways; the first stems from regurgitation, the debris can cut up their throats and internal organs as the items are coming out, the second way the chicks can die is from the debris taking up room in their stomachs, the chicks feel full and stop eating essentially starving themselves to death, and lastly consumed plastic that has been burned and is improperly disposed of contains PCP’s which poison the young birds. That dead bird was not the last I would come across.

Click for full size 
Photo by Robert Shallenberger

The island is covered with a flowering plant, Verbicina, that looks very much like a yellow daisy. Among the flowers are dead Albatross with plastic pieces flowing out of their chest. Everywhere you step are small plastic pieces that did not wash up but were brought by an Albatross to feed their young. The Albatross are not the only seabirds to nest on Eastern. We were able to see Red-footed Boobies, Great Frigatebirds and Sooty Terns both young and old. It feels good to see birds flying above me and hear them calling.

A few full grown juveniles sit on branches fifteen feet away and stretch out their enormous wings in a weak attempt to fly. With a seven foot wingspan you would think that they can fly away with the tree still in their grasp. The branches below them bounce but they are not yet able to take flight. Oddly enough the 10 Frigatebirds share the low lying tree with the same number juvenile Red-footed Boobies. This is odd because the Frigatebirds are notorious for stealing food from the Boobies. The adult Frigatebirds will shake a Booby in mid-air until it regurgitates its meal to fly away, the Frigatebird will release the Booby and catch the stolen meal before it hits the water. If a grown Frigatebird was shaking me around I might lose my lunch as well.

Back at the boat we spotted three more turtles, two in the water and one on the beach. They stuck around for a minute before diving deep under the water out of sight. The ride back was windy but pleasant. While passing through the channel three pods of dolphins danced besides the boat and as quickly as they came they were gone. Now I am off to the dolphin tower that I was at yesterday, I heard that a huge Monk Seal (above) hauled out on the beach. It is an opportunity that I can’t miss.

 <<<< Previous Day   October 3, 2000      Next Day >>>>