Hawaiian Birds and Short-tailed Albatross Success 2
An endangered Short-tailed Albatross has nested in the United States and produced a chick for the second time ever recorded. The recent discovery of the nest and chick on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands follows the fledging of the first U.S.-born chick last year at the same site by the same parents. This news suggests that the first chick hatched last year was not an isolated incident, and this may be the early stages of the formation of a new population of this very rare bird.
The Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) was once the most abundant albatross species of the North Pacific, numbering more than a million birds. Feather hunters decimated the population around the turn of the century, however, and researchers believed by the 1940’s that the species had gone extinct. In the early 1950s, ten pairs were discovered breeding on the volcanic island of Torishima, Japan, and they have grown to 3,000 individuals.
Midway Atoll is home to the world’s largest colonies of Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses, as well as millions of other seabirds. 55 miles from Midway, another Short-tailed Albatross pair is attempting breeding on Kure Atoll, the northern-most coral atoll in the world. Both Midway and Kure are part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Albatrosses tend to be faithful to the place of their birth, returning when they are around 8 years old to rear their own young. So it will be several years before researchers find out whether or not a full-fledged short-tailed American colony is in the making.
Hawaiian Reef Fish and Japanese Angelfish
Japanese Angelfish (Centropyge interruptus) are a rare Hawaiian reef fish found on reefs and ledges deeper than 60 feet in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Kure, Midway, and Pearl & Hermes. Like Potter’s Angelfish, they live in small groups of one male and several females. In addition to algae and detritus, they feed on the feces of plankton-eating damselfish, and are usually found where these are abundant.
It has an orange-yellow body with purplish blue spots completed with a bright yellow tail. In bright waters, the oranges and blues of this fish are electric. The spots are larger towards the tail, and the bottom part the rear of the fish gradually becomes purple. Males have more blue on the head than females and the margins of their soft dorsal and anal fins are blue with horizontal black markings. Blue facial dots become lines on males, and they can attain a length 6 inches.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Critical Habitat
Found only in the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Monk Seals belong to one of the most ancient living groups of seals. Today their numbers hover at slightly over a thousand individuals, and continue to decline at a rate of 4% per year. Threats to their survival include fishing practices that allow seals to become trapped and drown in underwater nets, erosion of beaches where monk seals raise their young, exposure to diseases that occurs as a result of interaction with people, and climate change that is disrupting marine ecosystems and causing sea levels to rise and flood the seals’ breeding grounds.
Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) are protected under the Endangered Species Act, but for years environmental groups argued the federal government wasn’t doing enough to halt and reverse their decline. In 2000, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups filed a lawsuit to stop fishing activities that threatened to starve Hawaiian Monk Seals by reducing their food supply. This was the start of a series of legal fights that eventually resulted in a new critical habitat designation.
The 11,000 square miles now protected for Hawaiian Monk Seal recovery include shoreline and near-shore waters on all of the eight major Hawaiian Islands, as well as the tiny and mostly uninhabited islands in northwestern Hawaii. These northwestern islands are where the majority of Hawaiian Monk Seals currently live. However smaller monk seal populations have become established and are growing on the larger islands, making the critical habitat designations there particularly significant.
Hawaiian Monk Seals are wide ranging pinnipeds that require both marine and land habitats for reproduction, rearing, foraging and resting. New habitat protections, including all of the Hawaiian Islands, are essential to bring endangered Hawaiian monk seals back from the brink of extinction. Critical habitat compels US federal agencies to consider the survival of this Hawaiian seal before they permit shoreline development – protecting our beaches and reefs not only for monk seals, but also for Hawaii’s paddlers, fishers, surfers and all people of these islands.
Papahanaumokuakea Shipwrecks and Corsair
In addition to ships found submerged in the waters of Papahanaumokuakea, planes have also been discovered. Records of naval aircraft losses in Hawaiian waters from 1925 to 1952 lists 1,485 entries. F4U Corsairs comprise 204 of these 1,485 entries, and six of those are specifically noted as lost at Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The number of naval aircraft lost in the Hawaiian Islands is a testimony to the logistical effort and commitment of the nation during the development of aviation in the Pacific. By far, most of these losses reflect the hazards of training and non-combat operations. Many young pilots found themselves in intensive training operations over unfamiliar waters, and were forced to ditch due to engine failure, etc.
Many regard the Vought F4U Corsair as the best single-seat fighter plane in World War II. The plane’s distinctive bent-wing design allowed the use of an over-sized propeller, and combined with a powerful radial engine this produced a maximum air speed of 425 mph at 19,900 feet altitude. Searching for the identity of a Corsair aircraft south of Midway Atoll’s Sand Island provides a glimpse into the history of naval aviation in the Pacific. While documenting the spaces within and underneath the fuselage and wing sections and inside the landing gear recesses the survey team found that these areas provide a wide variety of fish species a wealth of habitats in which to shelter. The remains of the Corsair are the only conspicuous topographic feature on the relatively flat bottom at its 110-foot plus depth.
In 2002, a team of NOAA maritime archaeologists investigated the site of a Corsair at Kure Atoll. Divers noticed an aluminum aircraft starboard wing portion and debris located on the seafloor, as well as an encrusted machine gun nearby. The US Navy aviation database includes only two known Corsair losses at Kure Atoll, both related to the same incident on August 1, 1944. Both crashed in the water on the south of Kure Atoll with no loss of life.
Hawaiian Reef Fish and Yellowbar Parrotfish
The endemic Hawaiian reef fish, Yellowbar Parrotfish, is rare around the Main Hawaiian Islands, and more common in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. They will attain lengths of 12 inches. Yellowbar Parrotfish (Calotomus zonarchus) are primarily blue with a bright yellow or white stripe and dots just behind each pectoral fin. Females tend to be mottled gray with a white stripe behind the pectoral fins, and males are bluish-gray with a yellow bar and pinkish-red markings on their bottom jaw.
Parrotfish are technically considered herbivores, however they eat a wide variety of organisms in the coral reef. Some species make coral polyps a regular part of their diet. They use their “beaks” to collect algae and polyps from the coral and rock surfaces. Photo by Keoki Stender.
Hawaiian Reef Fish and Regal Parrotfish
Regal Parrotfish (Scarus dubius) are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, but more common in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands than the main Hawaiian Islands. Growing up to 14 inches in length, Regal Parrotfish (Lauia in Hawaiian) impress divers with their beauty and graceful swimming. They inhabit reefs at scuba depths where it feeds upon coralline algae.
Females are rose to red with light stripes on the belly, yellow eyes, and red tail with a pale yellow trailing edge. Males are salmon pink to orange with turquoise face and fins, and tail with a bright green trailing edge. Parrotfish travel in schools and are very indifferent toward humans.
