Midway is the only national wildlife refuge with a commercially available runway. The FAA maintains the runway as an emergency landing site. All commercial airlines must fly routes that keep them within a certain distance of an emergency runway at all times....
Upon visiting Midway, you quickly find out that the Albatross (Gooney birds) are the true residents of Midway. Approximately 1 million of them (Laysan and Short-tailed species) nest every year. We visited at the tail end of nesting season and say mostly chicks that were in the process of growing in their flight feathers. They would fledge (learn to fly) within a few weeks leaving a very quiet island behind.
The albatross have no predators on the island. They have no fear of humans and will clack their beak at you when you get close, but they certainly don't have any interest in moving!! They are everywhere you look!
Some of the historic buildings that were damaged in the battle, are maintained as memorials.
This young boy had a close encounter with an albatross chick. We watched them interact for about 15 minutes.
There were some young adults that were hanging around looking for mates for next year. They do a very interesting courtship ritual that involves clacking their beaks. Albatross mate for life and can live up to about 60 years! They spend most of their lives at sea.
My assignment for the day was to patrol the beach to watch for the endangered Hawaiian monk seals that frequent the area, as well as green sea turtles and ensure that the guests stayed away from these sensitive species! The seals and turtles stayed away and folks were able to enjoy a little time on the beach before the flight back to Honolulu. (Tough assignment, I know....)
Since the island is an unincorporated territory of the US, we did have to go through customs on our return and I got my first passport stamp!!
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