On World Oceans Day earlier this week, I surveyed a colony of Laysan albatross chicks, mere weeks away from fledging. It was a clear day with bluebird blue skies and the slightest whisper of wind disrupting the lazy leaves of ironwood trees. But the chicks didn’t let the lack of air movement deter them. Many…
Tag: albatross
Celebrate Oceans. Refuse Plastic.
Beach finds last week: Plastic toothbrush; plastic baby powder bottle; plastic hagfish (eel) trap; plastic coat hanger; and a sundry of unidentifiable bits and chunks of plastic in a rainbow of colors—none of it left behind by beach-goers but based on its snagged and worn condition, arrived by water. I imagine a fisherman up early,…
Endangered Species Have the Coolest Tongues
Albatross have pointy tongues. Humpback whales have tongues that are the size of Volkswagen bugs. The tips of Hawaiian monk seals’ tongues are bifurcated, a fancy word for split. Pretty cool, huh. And that’s just tongues. Wait until we get to the throats. Today is recognized as Endangered Species Day. The goal of the day…
#1000Speak: Compassion in Laysan Albatross.
We’ve had unusual winds blowing around Kauai the past couple weeks. First, they blew from various points out of the west, swinging around from the northwest and north-northwest to the southwest and south-southwest. It were as if a kid had grabbed the garden hose of wind and was swinging it over her head in great loops….
Seven Things Laysan Albatross Teach Us About Love.
Laysan albatross are the kind of bird with which we fall in love. They possess faces made from the strokes of an artist’s paint brush. They glide with their six-foot wings stretched taut and swoop in gentle arcs up and over ocean waves. Laysan albatross are the kind of birds that make us humans long for wings…
#AlbatrossCam: The Internet’s Latest Reality Show.
Last winter, on a bluff on Kauai’s North Shore, a bird hatched one January day and quickly became an Internet celebrity. She was named Kaloakulua, and nearly two million viewers watched from the comforts of their electronic screens across 195 countries as “KK” ate her first meal of regurgitated squid; took her first steps on oversized, paddle-like feet; made friends…
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