Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Gooney Birds


                                                 Fascinating Bird
    The October day I arrived on Midway Island one gooney bird had returned to the island. I couldn’t understand why everyone was so excited.
     At that time I did not know that goonies fly off to sea in July and stay for the next four months. The second day ten birds returned, then 25 on the third day. After that they arrived so fast it was impossible to count them. Each morning when waking I opened the curtains to see how many birds were on the lawn in front of our barracks. When I left the island three weeks later there were a million and half goonies  on the island!; they were everywhere!
     Gooney is a nickname for the Laysan  Albatross, one of the fifteen albatross species. In the air the birds are beautiful appearing to glide effortlessly on thermal air currents.
     Midway is home to  70% of the world’s Laysan population, They mate for life and every year return to Midway to the same spot to await their mate’s arrival. Their mating dance is fascinating to watch and we watched them a lot!
    Mama lays  one half-pound egg each year and both  parents take turns every couple of weeks sitting on the egg. The non- sitting parent goes to sea to fed until it is time for its return to resume parenting duties. It takes both parents to raise the chick and if something happens to one parent the chick cannot survive.
    It is unusual for birds to mate in winter, but the summer is very hot in the Pacific and this may be one of nature’s adaptive behaviors.
    When the chick fledges it goes to sea for 3-5 years before returning to the island of his birth to find itself a mate.
    Landing is another story. They come gliding in like a plane and if into the wind he’ll land like a bird should.   But, if the wind changes or he misjudges it he will lose his balance, nosedive or turn a somersault. It can be very comical and no doubt helped label them as the Gooney Bird. They were a lot of fun to watch come in and land on the beach’ Talk  about being lucky to be able to experience this wonder event!.

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