Hawaiian Birds and Laysan Albatross Breeding
Most Laysan Albatross breed on islands within the Hawaiian archipelago, including Kauai. Midway Atoll, Laysan Island, and the French Frigate Shoals have more than 90% of the breeding pairs. They can stay out at sea for as long as five years before returning to the same island on which they were born. Once mated they tend to remain faithful to their mate and rendezvous each year with their partner at the same nest site staying just long enough to hatch and raise a single chick.
Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) first breed at about nine years of age. Experienced males arrive at breeding colonies in early November, with females following a week later, and first-time breeders a month later. Elaborate courtship dances are performed by both sexes that have up to twenty-five ritualized movements including bowing or swinging the head, mutual preening, and pointing bills skyward. Both sexes participate in building a shallow depression with a built-up rim on open, sandy, grassy ground. Laying begins in mid-November when a single creamy white, brown spotted egg is incubated by both parents for about sixty-five days. Incubation starts with the female for a short 2-day span, when the male takes over for as long as three weeks, and then they switch roles.
Chicks live off a diet of flying fish eggs and squid oil, a product that is rich in fat. Both parents will feed the chick by regurgitation and will often leave them for several days while they obtain food out at sea. Chicks fledge at five and a half months of age (mid-June through late July). Juvenile birds return to the colony three years after fledging, but do not mate for the first time until seven or eight years old. During these four or five years they form pair bonds with a mate that they will keep for life. If one of the mates should die, they will most likely create a new pair bond. Non-breeding birds reside primarily on the open ocean.
Hawaiian Birds and Laysan Albatross
The Laysan Albatross is a large seabird that is named after one of its breeding colonies in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This albatross is the second most common seabird in the Hawaiian Islands, with an estimated population of 2.5 million birds. There are two kinds of albatross in Hawaii: the blackfooted albatross (ka`upu), and the Laysan albatross (moli). These amazing birds can live up to fifty years, and have been recorded to fly as far as 2,000 miles in one day in search of food.
On land, albatross are very awkward and often have difficulty taking off and landing, yet they are graceful and impressive in flight. An albatross in flight can be so perfectly attuned to wind conditions that it may not flap its wings for hours, or even for days, as it can sleep while flying. It takes advantage of the air currents just above the ocean’s waves to soar in perpetual graceful motion. These birds spend nearly half the year at sea, not touching land until breeding season.
The Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) averages 32 inches in length and has a wingspan of more than six feet. The head, neck, and rump are white, while the tail, upper wing surfaces, wingtips, and back are dark. It has a black smudge around the eye, and its underwing patter varies between individuals. The hooked bill is salmon-colored with a gray tip, and their tube nostrils aid in salt removal. The legs and feet are flesh-colored, and the toes fully webbed. They are normally a silent bird, but on occasion they may be observed emitting long moo-ing sounds, descending whinnies, or rattles.
Laysans are surface feeders, and therefore feed on anything that floats on the surface of the water – including squid, fish, crustaceans, flying fish eggs, and unfortunately, marine debris as well. Laysans often sit on the water where they seize prey near the surface with their powerful beaks. Utilizing their high levels of rhodopsin (the visual pigment that enhances nocturnal vision) these birds feed mainly at night, when squid tend to surface.
