On witnessing an albatross feeding To witness a young albatross open wide its translucent, newborn throat, open the soft, pink shell to its mother, to the contents of the sea she carried in her body for thousands of miles, for over twenty million years – to watch, today, the chick wholly embrace the amber-colored squid [...]
Although it is only February, Spring has arrived for the albatross on Midway. It’s birthing season and hundreds of thousands of chicks are hatching over the next two weeks on every available square meter of island. It’s an ecstatic time and we’ve spent our first few days photographing and filming the cuteness, buoyed by the [...]
At this moment on Midway Atoll, the juvenile albatrosses are in the throes of their courtship dances. Their nonstop rave is the main source of all the buoyant motion and noise on the island as they seek a bond before flying out to sea to feed for the remainder of the summer. In this poem [...]
Cinematographer Joe Schweers offers a lyrical portrait of the fledgling albatrosses as they respond to their instincts and the wind. Filmed and edited by Joe Schweers Narrated by Chris Jordan Music by Christen Lien
In this poetic offering, a plastic filled bird carcass becomes a symbol for awakening. Filmed and edited by Jan Vozenilek Music by Christen Lien
Stomach contents of another dead baby albatross are revealed as Chris Jordan cuts the bird open with scissors from a dissection kit provided by US Fish and Wildlife Service. Filmed by Victoria Sloan Jordan Music by Christen Lien
Scientists say that plastic now outweighs plankton 6 to 1 in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The lagoon of Midway Atoll is the perfect laboratory to witness all sizes of plastic slowly breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. A variety of plastic washes up on the beaches daily, but not before some local fish [...]
I’m confused by the abundant life and abundant plastic pollution here. It’s easy to slip into a fantasy that a sort of balance has been achieved on Midway Atoll. Birds nesting amidst plastic cigarette lighters, bottle caps, toys, umpteen bits and pieces of plastic; turtles pulling up on the beach to rest among plastic buoys [...]
It’s the end of Day 3 for us on Pihemanu (Midway Atoll) in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Pihemanu – “the loud din of birds” in Hawaiian – is relatively quiet now that the nearly 800,000 albatross are out to sea for the next few months. Other seabirds are easier to notice now. Terns, petrels, [...]
