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!.

Beautiful Flowering Quarry

                                                 Beautiful  Quarry

    Who could ever imagine that a huge hole in the ground, a defunct 50-acre quarry, would ever become one of the most famous gardens in North America?

    Jenny Buchart, although happy with the income the limestone quarry and her husband’s cement plant provided, thought the big hole was a blight on the landscape in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

     In 1904, when she envisioned a garden, no one thought she she’d be successful in getting anything to grow. Tons of dirt were trucked into the quarry site while she designed the curves and hills of the gardens.

     During the Bucharts’  world travels, they bought statuary and brought home seeds and plants, obviously before the strict agriculture importation rules of today.

     Slowly the garden took shape and a century later the gardens still remain in the possession of the family. Fifty gardeners are kept busy full time, all year, to insure the gardens are always in bloom. No matter the season there is always a rainbow of color.

     In spring 60,000 tulips bloom in vibrant color everywhere. In fall the colors of many trees are spectacular. The rose garden is a mass of color when 2500 rose bushes bloom in summer.

     Many benches are situated around the gardens where one can rest or just sit and enjoy the surroundings as well as the peace and quiet of the entire area.

     Tacca, a large bronze boar, is positioned on the patio and appears to have just awakened, maybe from the sound of a hunt. His well burnished nose is  the result of all the good luck loving strokes given to it over the years as visitors and children bid farewell to the lovely gardens.  I have made several visits to  these gardens, but it was on my first visit years ago that Tacca was my first bronze to start my collection of  good luck brass rubbings.

     Cruise ships, especially to Alaska, run buses to Buchart when stopping in either Victoria or Vancouver. In such a case it’s a worthwhile side trip.