Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a great new year so far.  It's been good on Midway.  Our albatross nest counters left on Thursday, so it's quiet again, except for the birds.  I'll have the total number of nests for you sometime soon, but we have to go through and check the numbers first to make sure all are in order.  The island population is back down to the usual residents, except for two visiting researchers.  Scott Shaffer is here from San Jose State Univ. with his grad student, Cory.  They are back doing a multi-year project, tracking albatross to find out where they go to forage for food at various stages of their nesting cycle.  It has been very busy, but we've still had a bit of time for some fun.

 We didn't have fireworks here on New Year's Eve at the All Hand's Club, so I took some pictures to simulate them.  This picture is straight out of the camera, with no computer effects (other than rotating it a bit for a flat alignment).  I just used the zoom and a slow shutter speed on the Christmas lights.

This one looks a bit more like fireworks.  I didn't change this photo at all.

The band played on New Year's Eve, until our champagne toast at midnight.

Ek tends the bar at Capt. Brooks on another night.

The albatross nest counters helped us out doing albatross survival studies during their spare time.  They are looking for birds that were banded in previous years that have returned to nest.

We went for another snorkel under the cargo pier on New Year's Day.  It was fairly clear that day.

I also had to catch a Laysan duck on New Year's Day.  This duck somehow got its leg tangled in the strap of a dust mask.  It could still get around, but I removed it so it didn't get stuck on a branch or something.

All new island people need to be checked out on kayak safety before they can use them.  Scott, Cory, our newest firefighter Dave, and our new Physician's Assistant, Tracy, are practicing flipping their kayak and getting back in.  Airport manager Tim and I joined them for a short paddle.