Midway Atoll is 1,250 miles northwest of Kauai, Hawaii and is the only landfall
between Japan and the US. Its history is well known for playing a pivotal roll in WWII, 1942 where the battle of Midway
took place. It was the turning point of
the war and was an important
communications post. Most of the
historic buildings are in ruin now, but
may be restored. It is still an
important landing strip being smack
between the two countries and is used
for emergencies.
There are only two commercial flights a
week to the atoll which is comprised of
three small islands; Sand, Eastern and
Spit. Sand is the only one inhabited by
humans and is 1.8 X 2.2 miles. Easter is somewhat smaller and has an old landing
strip on it and Spit is off limits to
anyone but research people because of
the endangered species on it. The main
residents on all three islands are the
Laysan Albatross which come every year
to breed and raise their young. The bird is about the size of a small turkey and
the three islands house 350,000
birds!
No aircraft is allowed to approach the
atoll until dark when the birds are not
in the air (except in an emergency).
When we arrived there was just enough
light to be able to see the group of
islands and the surrounding reef, which
is quite beautiful from the air. After
circling the area, the pilot advised
that there was a problem with the
landing gear light and he was turning
off all the lights except those on the
wheels, doing a low fly-over so the
ground personnel could see if the gear
was engaged and we were to prepare for
an emergency landing. All appeared OK on the ground, and we landed the small
aircraft at the end of the airstrip
which had every vehicle on the island
with their lights on, lining the runway. Once we touched down, everyone converged on the plane. They didn't want to take a chance on taxiing the plane in case
there was a problem with the gear, so we were transported from the end of the
strip and they towed the plane back to
the hangar. Quite a welcome to
Midway!
The next day we found out that we had
hit a bird and we went to see the
damaged nose cone. Yikes, it's amazing
what a bird can do (not to mention what
we did to the bird). Being so remote,
they have the capability of totally
rebuilding their plane, so it was
repaired in time to make the Wednesday
run. Once a week a military transport
lands to restock the island. The first
thing they run out of is milk.
The main reason to go to Midway is the
wildlife, especially the Albatross.
Every patch of ground is covered with
birds and the chicks were still in their nests while we were there. They lay only one egg because it takes so much to
raise a chick and they aren't fledged
for six monts. While one parent goes to
sea to get food, the other stays with
the chick, taking turns to feed. These
birds are also called Gooney birds
because they are so funny. They have a
mating ritual which is unlike anything
you have ever seen, bobbing and weaving, squawking, putting their heads under
their wings, clacking and touching
beaks. They mate for life. Once the
birds are fledged, they go out to sea
for five to seven years, never touching
land!
Most of our days involved hiking to
different parts of the island and
observing the wildlife in each area.
These small islands are safe havens for
several severely endangered species. The Short Tailed Albatross has only 700
remaining in the world and we were lucky to see one of them. The Hawaiian Monk
Seals are starting to breed here (there
are 1,200 left in the world) and we also saw a Green Sea Turtle which is
endangered.
One day we took a short boat ride to
Eastern Island which has no human
population. Although half the size of
Sand Island, its population of Albatross is larger. The dead bodies are not
picked up here and we saw several birds
whose stomachs were filled with small
plastic objects. The birds are attracted to the color of the plastic, thinking it is fish, and eat it. They take in so
much of it, it fills their stomachs and
they starve to death. Most of the
plastic came from Japan.
Because of the problem with plastic, we
would go out and walk along the beaches
with garbage bags, cleaning the beach.
It would take us 15 minutes to fill the
bags so full, we could hardly drag them
and everything came from the sea - there are no litterbugs on Midway. We found
tires, plastic milk crates, light bulbs, beer bottles, bic lighters, etc., etc.,
etc. It was very disheartening.
Every building on the island is from the military and there was a bowling alley,
theater, gymnasium, barracks, mess hall, the "Mall" which had two stores, one
general store which was sparsely stocked and a souvenier shop. There are still
large, rusting guns there as well as
bunkers.
However, the main attraction is the
birds. Other than the Laysan Albatross,
the island has Black-footed Albatross
(second largest population in the
world),Ruddy Turnstones,Red-tailed
Tropicbirds,Black Noddys, White Terns,
Curlews, Red and Blue Footed Boobies,
Frigate Birds, wild Canaries and Mynahs, Golden Plovers, and others.
The main thing, however are the Laysan
Albatross who are so endearing, my heart broke when we had to leave them. You
just can't help falling in love with
them and that is the lasting legacy of
this most fascinating
place.
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PHOTOGRAPHS OF MIDWAY ATOLL