Black foots and Bonins

Black-footed Albatross are another endangered species found in the NWHI. Laysan has quite a few breeding pairs! Like Laysan Albatross, these birds have an elaborate mating dance and usually establish pair bonds for life (or at least for a long time). Both parents take care of the egg and chick, coming back every week or so to feed the fluffball. It is really common to see several chicks run up to a returning adult and beg for food - and those chicks often get clobbered. Also, the adults "discipline" chicks that are roosting nearby their own. Ouch!

Chickie getting fed:


Chick with a good view of the rainbow:


King of Laysan?


Discipline:


Bonin Petrels return to Laysan in August to get ready for the next breeding cycle. They establish lifetime pair bonds and return to the same burrow every year. They dig everywhere! It is really hard to find places to walk without crushing a burrow - so we always have to dig it out cuz a bird is very likely in there. Females lay in January and both parents incubate for about 2 months until the chick hatches. Bonins time their reproductive cycle as to not overlap with shearwaters who also dig, and are much bigger and outcompete the petrels. Wedge-tail shearwaters return in the spring and often evict or kill Bonin chicks.

Bonin Chick:


Bonin butt:


Bonin molting into grown-up plumage: