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Island Conservation
The New York Times features the world’s oldest known wild bird, Wisdom the Laysan Albatross who has hatched a new chick in Midway Atoll. Still, the presence of invasive mice remains a persistent threat. Nearly sixty-five years ago, Wisdom a Laysan albatross, was first identified and banded by researchers on Midway Atoll in the North […]
Jonathan Plissner recently witnessed a rare event—the fledging of a Short-tailed Albatross on Midway Atoll. In celebration of the first World Albatross Day, he shares his thoughts on this event and hopes for the future. Short-tailed Albatross are one of the rarest and most endangered seabirds in the Pacific. Most of the global population breeds […]
Measures taken to stop the spread of Coronavirus are having unintended consequences for wildlife and biodiversity conservation that could take years to repair. In the wake of shelter-in-place orders, stories have emerged of coyotes exploring empty beaches in the San Francisco Bay and goats roaming city centers. Still, freed from human intervention, not all species […]
Earth Day celebrations are going entirely online for 2020, but there are plenty of things each person can do for the planet, from home. Earth Day 2020 is going digital and being celebrated with 24-hours of Action. To help you celebrate Earth Day, we came up with a few ideas of actions you can take […]
Midway Atoll restoration project postponed in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the rapidly evolving outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (COVID-19), increasing travel restrictions, and following guidance from the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for reduced travel and social distancing, it has become […]
The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels launches World Albatross Day on June 19th, 2020. Island Conservation’s mission is to prevent extinctions by removing invasive species from islands. We work with local communities, government management agencies and conservation organizations on islands with the greatest potential for preventing the extinction of globally threatened species. We develop comprehensive […]
The remote nature of Midway Atoll and the restriction of artificial light makes for a night of beautiful, bright stars. Midway Atoll is a place where the sky never turns black, not even in middle of the night when stars seem endless. While the Atoll is undoubtedly an amazing place: tons of seabird species, the […]
The start of fall means Black-footed and Laysan Albatross are beginning to return to Midway for yet another breeding season. After a long hot summer, seemingly endless days of the sun beating down upon Midway’s islands, fall feels right around the corner. For just a brief period, Midway is largely void of nearly all seabirds. […]
Research on Midway Atoll seeks to uncover the hidden impacts that invasive mice have beyond seabirds to the ecosystem-wide impacts on bugs and plants. Midway is the world’s largest albatross colony and provides globally significant breeding grounds and migration stopover points for more than 3 million birds from nearly 30 different species. Midway is a […]
Researchers on Midway Atoll will give us more insight into the cascading ecosystem benefits of invasive mice removal through the study of mice poop. Islands constitute only 5.3% of the Earth’s landmass, yet they are home to a disproportionate amount of biodiversity and endemic species. One such diverse group of animals is that of seabirds, […]