Meet your Mate

After a grueling 4 mile hike along the northern shore of Oahu, Hawaii, Cory and I finally made it to the Ka'ena Point State Park. I had read in a nature book that I had bought in Hawaii that this was a great place to look for albatross. Though it took forever to get there, really it was a beautiful hike along a stunning coast and as far as albatross, it did not disappoint.

These are Laysan Albatross. Though they are not the largest of the albatrosses, compared to other birds, these things are massive. In stature these birds are larger than a lot of dog breeds, though they only weigh 4-9 pounds. They have an impressive 80 inch wing span, which allows them to glide and soar through the air.

As we walked around the state park, there were numerous albatross buzzing our heads and several others squawking at one another. We came across a group of albatross, shown in the picture at the beginning of this blog, engaged in some form of communication. I have looked up what type of dance this could be and what it was meant for. The closest I can find from memory of the dance, are videos of albatross mating dances, but I am not sure this is actually what was is going on here.

As I snapped away, I was distracted by all the activity, and didn't realize that there were albatross chicks in the area and indeed in my photos. I was too busy trying to capture albatrosses in flight and trying to discover whether albatross were truly as bad at landing and taking off as they are reported to be in nature shows, and the famed documentary, "The Rescuers." It wasn't until I got home and began to edit, that I realized there were albatross chicks in my photos. Of course now I am mad at myself for not being more observant. I keep telling myself, "sometimes its good to live in the moment, you don't have to photograph everything," but then I say, "the albatross chicks were a part of that moment, and I didn't even know they were there, just thought they were some sort of fluffy Hawaiian rock or whatever. Ugh!"

Anyway it was cool to see these giant birds fly, squawk and crash land. Yes they do suck at taking off and landing. It was fun to envision one of my favorite childhood movie characters, Wilbur, as a real albatross with mice on his back as they take off on another adventure. I just wish I could have gotten a good picture of the gangly running start for take off or the bone crunching landings of these real life Wilburs. Oh well, I guess I can suck up another trip to Hawaii, if I must.

#Albatross #LaysanAlbatross #Bird #Hawaii #Oahu #KaenaPointStatePark #Wildlife #Nature #Photography