Your Albatross Chick Fix – Four Months Old – Princeville – Kauai

If you follow my blog then you know that I LOVE the Laysan albatross chicks in Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii. Moana, who was recently banded H712, and lives just four houses down from Honu Point, posed for me in his/her awkward stage of loosing fluff to flight feathers. All the chicks in the neighborhood are now about four months old and they are starting to wander a few feet further from where they were born. They are also testing those long wings to see just what they do in the wind. Each wing gets folded in four parts before it rests near the body.

As I was driving away from Honu Point on Wednesday another chick was having a very good morning. Mom or Dad had flown back to the island with lots of food to share. It had been quite awhile since the last meal and he/she was hungry. Even after I stopped filming, the chick kept trying to get more and more regurgitated food until finally the parent said enough and walked away. Best with sound.

Here are three more cuties in the neighborhood. Each one is at a little different stage of development but they will all be fledging at the end of June or into July. Between now and then they will continue to spread those wings and start running down the street to practice their take-off. Perhaps they will get an inch or two off the ground but that is it. Not until they take that giant leap of faith off the bluff will they actually fly.

Once these Laysan albatross leave our island they will stay over water for three to four years. Then, as long as they can stay safe, they will return to our neighborhood and we will know who they are from the band that was placed on their leg. Our neighbor, Cathy, who you may see walking every afternoon to document the lives of these fascinating birds, has a very long family tree of the albatross of Kaweonui Road. How can anyone not love these birds?

To watch the live albatross bird cam from Cornell Lab, go to http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/41/Laysan_Albatross/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=23ea0be5a3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-23ea0be5a3-277770429

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