As deeply troubling reports continue to come in about ocean waters hitting historic hot temperatures, sectors …
If you want to hang out with a Laysan albatross, your best bet is visiting Midway Atoll. This tiny island is home to the biggest group of them in the world—it’s essentially a big family reunion! Laysan albatrosses manage to cram more than 450,000 nesting pairs (that’s nearly 1 million birds) into a 2.4 square-mile area by nesting in every available nook, from abandoned WWII gun turrets to grassy cracks in the pavement.
After having been severely threatened by feather hunters, Laysan albatross populations have since recovered to about 600,000 breeding pairs. But that doesn’t mean they’re in the clear: Laysan albatrosses are seriously threatened by marine plastics. When they’re out at sea foraging for food to feed their chicks, they often ingest plastics by mistake. They return to regurgitate this food-and-plastic mixture for their chicks, who then eat it too. Chicks often die due to starvation, stomach rupture or asphyxiation from the plastics.