Midway's golden gooney fledges (RaisingIslands?format=xml)
Midway Atoll's golden gooney chick, the first of its species hatched outside
Japan, has fledged—flown out to sea, most likely to the rich waters to the
northwest.
(Image: The golden gooney chick is still mostly black, but eventually will
develop white plumage and a striking yellow-gold head, like its papa, shown
here. The chick is seen here sitting under its dad. For more recent shots of
the chick, check our previous posts (see links at the end of this story.)
Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)
“It happened just as most followers of the bird’s short life drama expected,
the bird slipping away from the Atoll’s Eastern Island sometime during the
day, with no one there to watch,” said a press release from John Klavitter of
the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
Midway and the other Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, all part of the
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, are home to hundreds of thousands
of Laysan albatross and black-footed albatross, but only within recent years
have these cousins been joined by a handful of short-tailed albatross—also
known as golden goonies for their yellow heads.
In January this year, a courtship between an 8-year-old male and 24-year-old
female produced an ...
