On the boat ride over to Eastern Island today we saw a Tiger Shark attacking a fledgling Laysan Albatross. The Albatross bit the shark in the nose........and lived.
A welcoming committee waited for us on the pier.
Thousands of these Japanese Emerald Beatles were swarming around everywhere.
We were there to do some restoration work on the wetlands. The Laysan Ducks were interested in all the activity.
Very interested.
The Terns were out in full force.
This thing is a firing position from the 2nd World War. It is made out of the top of a tank from the 1st World War. When the Japanese fleet was bearing down on Midway, some 18 year old soldier would have been inside there aiming his machine gun at the beach and waiting to die. Lucky for him, the Battle of Midway actually took place in the open ocean several miles from the Atoll Itself.
Another relic of the War.
This Brown Noddy chick supervised the whole thing from the stump of an old Ironwood Tree.
The beetles are not native. They have been introduced. They are not found on the main Hawaiian Islands, so great care is taken to make sure they don't catch a ride with people coming and going from Midway. They have the potential to do enormous damage to agricultural crops.
ReplyDeleteAwesome tigertross picture!
ReplyDeleteSean and PJ are still talking about the albatross vs. shark encounter - amazing! We love keeping up with your site.
ReplyDelete