Midway Atoll March Madness - Oceanic Society 2011

All Photographs by Wayne Sentman © 2010

In a few weeks we will be headed back to Midway Atoll for our first visit of 2011. An intreped group of 16 persons, two of which are returning visitors, will spend 7 full days exploring every inch of Sand Island, spending one 1/2 day visiting Eastern Island, and snorkeling the lagoon waters. 2011 promises to be a thrilling year. After 11 years of having Short-Tailed Albatross decoys and a sound system playing recorded calls from Short-Tailed breeding sites in Japan, the first recorded successful nest of this endangered seabird has produced a young chick. With only about 2500 individuals left, the potential expansion of it's range to now include Midway may be a sign that the Short-Tailed Albatross is slowly making a recovery.

This years Chirstmas nesting counts also leave us expecting quite a show in the air. March is always a time of skies full of albatross as chicks are young so both adults are usually fairly close returning to the nest every 2 to 4 days, there are also lots of non-breeders around trying to find a mate for the next season. The reason this year looks to be even more electric is that nesting pair counts for Laysan Albatross were 482,909 pairs, the second largest number counted at Midway. While Black-Footed Albatross had the highest nesting pair count ever recorded at Midway with 28,581. Nearly 4000 more pairs than ever recorded at Midway!

It should be another great year out on Midway. Along with the 3 albatross species the weather should be getting warmer and there will be many other species of seabirds returning to start nesting. The sooty terns should be circling overhead, Greater Frigate birds will be in full display alongside Red-Footed Boobies that will be building nests out of whatever sticks and twigs they can find. The Bristle-Thighed Curlews will still be there getting ready for the end of April when they will stage to fly all the way to Alaska to return to their breeding grounds. The Bonin Petrels will fill the dusk sky as they mass in the air, looking for a moment like a huge colony of bats emerging from some sand cave. As dusk turns into night they will be busy digging out their nests as they prepare to lay eggs and raise young. Their nests are wonders of construction, this small petrel nests in the sandy ground, digging a nest that can be nine feet in length and up to 6 feet deep! Walking around in the dark visitors can see the bust seabirds throwing showers of sand out of the entrance of their burrows. Having had 15 years of a rat free environment has seen Bonin Petrel numbers explode in the last few years. And if we are lucky there may be a few nesting Brown Boobies and Masked Boobies, both ground nesters that still seem to only nest on Eastern Island.

While the waters may be a bit chilly in March if I know anything about a typical Oceanic group there will be many that will be anxious to get right into the water! March usually has nice clear water and I have observed over 6 species of nudibranchs along the pier supports at this time of year. Green sea turtles are also abundant in March, taking advantage of the afternoon sun to come out and bask on Turtle Beach. Hawaiian Green turtles are one of the few populations where individuals actually come out on the beaches to bask. This allows us to see both male (longer tails) and female turtles during daylight. Last year we had sea turtle researcher Marc Rice, joined by three Oceanic volunteers following the basking behavior of the turtles. They went to turtle beach every hour during daylight (and sometimes at night) to monitor basking numbers related to time of day and amount of sunlight. During the week they in April were there on a few occasions they saw over 25 turtles hauled out on the beach. I have had a few times in March where we have seen over 40 turtles basking in the Spring sun. This year we will focus one of our lectures on the findings of last years monitoring efforts and relate it to what has been observed by Marc and another sea turtle researcher, George Balazs, since together they have been tagging and monitoring sea turtles at Midway since 1977.

Well check back and I will be sure to update you with what 2011 shows us. One thing is for sure, we have never had a "bad" day at Midway! Being so close to that many animals, and having these islands to yourself, it is hard not to feel like you are in paradise.