A pair of endangered Short-tailed Albatrosses has successfully hatched a single chick on an island in the Hawaiian archipelago, marking the first time the species has ever been known to breed outside of Japan, American Bird Conservancy reports.
The hatchling broke through its shell on Eastern Island, one of three small, flat coral islands that comprise Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge over 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu. A second nest, located on Kure Atoll, a 213-acre coral island located about 55 miles from Midway, produced two eggs which failed to hatch. That nest was being incubated jointly by two females, and so the eggs were likely not fertilized by a male.
“Certainly, we had hoped that both nests would be successful and that we would have three new chicks, but the good news is that we have a live chick and two attempts at nesting,” said Dr. Jessica Hardesty Norris, Director of the Seabird Program for American Bird Conservancy, the nation’s leading bird conservation organization. “We would like to congratulate the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on their success in attracting the birds. They have been putting out decoys and using other methods for years.”
The parents of the Midway chick first paired up on the Refuge during the breeding season four years ago (2007-08). During that season, they were observed spending only a little time together. During the following season, their time together increased. By the third season, they arrived at the Eastern Island breeding colony together and built a nest but did not lay. This breeding season, one of the pair was observed incubating a freshly laid egg on November 16, 2010. The pair has been under close observation ever since. FWS reports that the birds’ leg bands reveal that the male of the pair was hatched on Torishima in 1987 while the female hatched there in 2003.
http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/stories/110124.html
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