Laysan Albatross Chick, No. 1
by Belinda Greb
Title
Laysan Albatross Chick, No. 1
Artist
Belinda Greb
Medium
Photograph - Photograph, Photography
Description
Laysan Albatross Chick, No. 1
Some of the Laysan albatross nest right in neighborhoods in Princeville, Kauai. This chick was right by a fire hydrant in a center island in the middle of a dead end street. Perimeters are set up around the low profile nests to keep people at bay. These birds have rebounded in numbers and the IUCN which classified the birds as vulnerable now classifies them as near-threatened. The NW Hawaiian islands now has 99.7% of the species. A single egg is laid and takes 65 days to incubate and once hatched, the chick takes 160 days to fledge. An interesting note is that 31% of the pairs that mate for life are female-female. Eggs are fertilized by males, or at times, researchers replace unfertilized eggs in the female-female nests with fertilized eggs taken from unsafe areas such as military airfields. The Laysan albatross have long lives, and a female albatross named Wisdom was banded in 1956 and in December 2016 was seen raising a chick. Since they don't breed until 5 years, she was estimated to be about 66 years old and at the time was the oldest living wild bird in the Northern Hemisphere.
Copyrighted - Belinda Greb
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Nature, animals, beauty have been a source of nourishment throughout my life. Photography allows me to capture, interpret, and share that world of wonder I see about me, and sometimes use what I capture as an inspiration to create something new, by incorporating other exposures, textures or brushwork.
Uploaded
March 19th, 2019
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