Yesterday:

One of the birds has been there since 10:06 a.m., and both were there for a while.

       

One is still there as of 2:29 p.m.

The birds visible on the webcam this year are known as KGY and YWK. KGY is the female, identified by the colors of the band on her left leg: black, green, yellow (reading from the top of the band down), and the male is YWK, which stands for yellow, white, black on his colored leg band.

Their egg was laid on November 7, 2017, and the chick hatched on 22 January 2018. Mom was on the nest when the chick hatched, but now Dad has returned from the sea and is the one caring for the chick.

The beautiful little chick:



Dad on the nest:



http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/albatrosses/royal-albatross-toroa/royal-cam/

A brand new little chick! Welcome to the world, little one.

(movie)

Thank you, Shaky!

Yesterday morning 11:33 a.m. EST:

     

And then gone.

DC has arrived:

     

     

Other than a very short visit yesterday morning, I have not seen anyone at the nest lately.

Early this morning:





And then both were gone.

[1/26/2018 :: Breaking News!]

I was so happy to see this update on the site today:

1/26/2018  ::   Breaking News!

Around 9:30 a.m., the nearly 15-year-old resident male, band code W/V, was spotted back on the ledge. While the female remains at the nest ledge all year, the male often leaves the area and then returns when breeding activity typically resumes.

So glad Lil Dad is home. I was beginning to wonder, since he is not usually gone for this long. Now I hope that there will be no territorial battle to retain his nest and his territory. Lil Dad is one of a kind.

[January 25, 2018]

From the Cornell site:

January 25, 2018

2018 Laysan Albatross Cam Season Is Live!

The Kauai Laysan Albatross cam is back for a new season with three nests featuring all-new breeding pairs for 2018. Take a trip to the north shore of Kauai and watch along as all three nesting pairs wrap up their 2-month incubation and prepare for hatching before the end of January! Visit the Laysan Albatross FAQ page for information on this year's nesting pairs. The first egg is likely to begin hatching tomorrow, Friday, January 26. Tune in now to experience the hatching of these magnificent seabirds live on camera!

http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/41/Laysan_Albatross/

[December 19, 2017]

I was very sad to read this news about Pilialoha from the Cornell site, especially to have lost her in this way. 

December 19, 2017

Sad News About Pilialoha

We’re saddened to share news that Pilialoha, one of the mothers of the young albatross Kalama during the 2017 cam season, died after an interaction with a Hawaii-permitted Deep Set longline vessel while she was foraging over the Pacific Ocean. Her death was reported by a trained National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) fisheries observer. In recent years, fishing vessels in the North American fleets have made important strides in reducing seabird mortality from bycatch thanks to research and new safety techniques promoted by the NMFS Office of Sustainable Fisheries. These new measures are effective 90% of the time when ships use streamers to scare birds away from hooks, weight lines so they sink faster, and bait hooks at night when birds are less active.

However, even when vessels take precautions some seabirds are still killed. About 100 Laysan Albatrosses die from bycatch each year, down from a high of around 30,000 before driftnets were banned and longline safety measures taken. Research continues on the best ways to reduce that number—including a recent workshop in November involving multiple agencies and scientists. Seabirds who die as a result of interactions with fishing vessels (including Pilialoha) are also collected to provide valuable population-level information on demographics, distribution patterns, food habits, and pollution loads, with the hope of improving prospects for albatrosses and other seabirds in the future.

Although it’s sad to learn that Mahealani’s partner from last year will not return, there’s a good likelihood that she will find a new mate in future years and continue to be a productive member of the albatross breeding population on Kauai. As we say farewell to Pilialoha and look ahead to the next breeding season on Kauai, we encourage you to remember the best times of these past few years and also to treasure the time on cam that we get with these amazing birds. Thanks for watching—we hope to be back online sometime in mid- to late-January.

Some new information on Bailey, after she had X-rays taken of her wings. I was hoping for more encouraging news, but at least this explains why she has problems sustaining flight. Still hoping for the best possible future for Bailey, whether or not she turns out to be releasable. 



Bailey's left wing:



Bailey's right wing:



Images: Audubon Center for Birds of Prey.

These x-rays are from Bailey the Osprey, patient 799-17. We posted a few weeks ago that she still wasn't flying high sustained flights, and nothing has changed since then. These x-rays help explain why (check out the photo of Bailey on the x-ray table).

Her right wing joint is enlarged from the way it healed. Bones healing have osteoblasts which are bone forming cells. These cells quickly add onto the injured bone to help it heal. Then after the healing occurs, another type of bone cell, called an osteoclast, reabsorbs the excess bone to get it back down to a normal size. However, in this case, there is still a lot of a callus left in Bailey's joint, when the osteoclasts should be done reabsorbing what they will.

We are concerned about her ability to rotate her 'wrist' with the callus that is left. Osprey migrate long distances and in order to hunt fish need to be able to hover, both which require perfect 'wrist' rotation. As always we'll keep watching her and update when there is news.

https://www.facebook.com/AudubonCenterforBirdsofPrey/posts/1780061245340115

Short visit by Beauty and, for a moment, DC :