Well, finally Midway's most famous couple are together again. Last year I got some pictures of these two dancing for the first time. Up until that point the big adult male Short-tailed Albatross has tried unsuccessfully to woo one of the life-like decoys that are set up here to lure more Short-tails in. We have seen both the male and juvenile female this year, but never in the same place at the same time, until now. They looked pretty happy today, sitting very close and preening each other. They even did some mooing for me, which is one of my favorite vocalizations in all the bird world. It is a really low, deep moo that kinda shakes your chest a little when they do it together! As far as anyone knows, this is the only courting pair of Shorties outside of Japan.
Somehow Clare and I lucked out. The permit and weather gods all smiled on us at the same time, allowing us to complete out dream of hiking the Kalaulau Trail on the Na Pali Coast of Kauai. We had been discussing the trip for weeks, but torrential rains during December and our lack of permits for the trail, had me convinced that our chances of completing the trail were low. Permits often take weeks to get but we showed up at the State office in Lihue and got them issued to us for exactly the days we'd hoped. The weather cooperated with beautiful blue skies and killer sunsets for all three days we were on the trail. Good thing too because the trail is narrow and steep in most places and some of the sections have drop offs in excess of 500 ft to the jagged surf covered rock below!! The trail was challenging, and our days hiking were long, but it was all worth it. The sunset from the beach at the end of the trail was particularly stunning.
