Albatross Chicklets

Break out the cigars and make sure you have a lot of them to share. We have many proud parents here at Midway because the first albatross eggs have begun to hatch. It is a very exciting time. Our first Black-footed Albatross chick was found on Monday and our first Laysan chick hatched today. Over the next few weeks we will have close to 400,000 eggs hatch and little ones will be all over the place. I haven't worked on a seabird colony for five years and this is so much fun for me to witness this explosion of life! The chicks are amazing. The little Black-footed chick in the photo above was still wet from being in the egg when I took the picture, but it was ready to eat. After 65 days of incubating the egg the real work is just beginning for the adults. They will have to work hard to feed their little ones, all they way through to June.