More Chicks

The albatross chicks are hatching all over the place now.  I'd say only about 1 out of 10 nests are hatching so there's a quite a few more to go.  I like them when they are tiny because they don't try to snap at you yet.

We found a dead duck the other day, so we're back to checking the seeps every day for ducks that are sick or have died from botulism.  So far we haven't found any more.  That means a trip to Eastern Island every day too.  

We'll be short on people for the next couple of months, so we've got a person here to fill in for Greg, Sue, and I when each of us are off island.  I'm glad that Larry will be here on detail, especially since we've got the seep checks to do now, so if you hear me mention Larry, that's who it is.

This adult is letting the chick get warmed up in the sun.

 Here's a chick that's only about 2 days old.

A White-tailed tropicbird flies around checking out possible nesting trees every afternoon.

 I showed you a photo last week of the glass float that Greg found in the water.  A set of two green glass floats tied together washed up on Eastern Island yesterday.

I've showed you this view before, but I never get tired of it.  This is from the pier on the north side of Eastern Island looking toward Sand Island.  It's nice and calm inside the atoll.  The next few photos are on the south side of Eastern Island looking to the reef outside the atoll.  The waves are always a bit more dramatic when there's a good wind because you get a lot of spray off of the top.  The waves were 10 to 20 ft today.