Midway Atoll -- The Birds of Midway
Text and photos by CoralRealm advisor
John Hoover
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| The "Midway Mall" filled
with birds. |
Ask anyone who has been to Midway what they remember most and they will invariably answer: birds. On
arrival we soon saw why: a grassy slope abutting the runway was covered with large white seabirds and
their fuzzy turkey size chicks. So was the field beyond, acres in extent. Here and there, in this
veritable sea of birds, pairs of adults faced each other performing a complex four-step courtship
ritual: first they would whinny like horses and bob heads vigorously up and down; second, tuck heads
under wings; third, emerge, clacking beaks rapidly like castanets; and fourth, stretch on tip-toes,
point beaks to the sky and honk. The image of these "gooney birds" honking at heaven has become the
very symbol of Midway and is emblazoned everywhere from fuel tanks to tee-shirts.
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Laysan albatross
Diomdia mutabilis
"sky-honking" |
The two islands of Midway: Sand and Eastern (plus a tiny sand bar called Spit), are collectively the
world's largest nesting site for the Laysan albatross (Diomedia immutabilis). For nine months of
the year gooney birds and their chicks occupy every available piece of open ground. Luckily for
pilots, the birds avoid concrete runways, but the asphalt roads are covered with them. In some
places, driving is impossible without a person walking in front of the vehicle to shoo them away.
They are not moved easily, especially the stubborn chicks. Nature has programmed them to stay in
one spot so that the parents, who feed at sea, can always find them. When we arrived in late May,
the chicks were almost adult size and equipped with sharp hooked beaks. Approached from any direction,
they would face their assailant holding their ground with lunges and snaps. We found that stamping
and waving a towel or cap in their faces would eventually clear them from the road. But it was slow
business because the chicks give way reluctantly -- inch by inch. Old Midway residents later told us that
the most effective technique was to sweep a broom in front of them.
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The honking, whistling, whinnying, and rapid-fire beak clacking continue day and night from
November to August, often right under one's barracks' window. In August, when the chicks have
fledged and learned to fly, the birds depart and the island is mercifully quiet until November,
when the whole cycle starts again.
Next to the albatrosses, the fairy terns (Gygas alba) were my favorites. Completely white except
for their black eyes and black pointed beaks, these alert, delicate-looking birds fly in pairs. They
can hover in one spot (often right over your head) and lay their eggs on bare tree branches. On
Eastern Island the sooty terns (Sterna fuscata) are so raucus and so numerous that it is rumored
that Alfred Hitchkock journeyed there to record the sound track for the movie "The Birds."
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Albatross statue in
"Midway Mall"
next to anti-aricraft gun. |
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| The fairy tern
Gygas alba - photo by Marcia Stone |
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Of course, there are other birds on Midway -- 16 species including: tropic birds, frigate birds,
shearwaters, boobies, and surprisingly, canaries (introduced many years ago by the wife of one of
the cable company stationmasters). In the end, though, the gooney birds steal the show.
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Midway Atoll
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