Instead of being sidelined by a dislocated carpus in it’s left wing, a juvenile albatross named “Makana” has taken center stage at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. If injury had not permanently grounded Kaua‘i’s “little ambassador,” as Kapa‘a resident Christie
Instead of being sidelined by a dislocated carpus in it’s left wing, a juvenile albatross named “Makana” has taken center stage at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.
If injury had not permanently grounded Kaua‘i’s “little ambassador,” as Kapa‘a resident Christie Thompson calls her, the large white-and-black bird would be soaring over the Aleutian Islands.
As the 16-month-old Laysan albatross continues to adjust to her new home after moving in Nov. 18, plans are in the works to further her stardom, Monterey Bay Aquarium Curator Christina Slager said.
“In January, she’ll begin training to mingle comfortably with aquarium visitors,” she said. “We believe she’ll be a compelling ambassador for ocean conservation and will help our 1.7 million annual visitors to appreciate and respect these threatened seabirds.”
Born at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge early last year, Makana moved to Kaua‘i in March 2006 as part of a pilot project to help researchers. Biologists wanted to learn how to handle and rear the chicks so information could be shared with scientists on Japan seeking to relocate a rarer species there.
But soon after her injury, Makana became a candidate to serve as an educational bird. The goal was for Makana — which means “gift” in Hawaiian — to teach people about Laysan albatross and the current threats the species faces.
“We humans are really messing up the Earth, (but) it is still in our hearts to take care of the creatures,” Thompson said. “The energy that so many have put into one bird shows the reflection of that care.”
The Laysan albatross has been identified as a focal species of management concern due to a 32 percent recent decline of birds breeding on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where 90 percent of the world’s population is found, states a 2006 National Biological Information Infrastructure online report.
The U.S. Geological Survey manages NBII, a broad collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation’s biological resources.
“Accidental bycatch in long-line fisheries and illegal drift net operations, particularly in the North Pacific, are thought to be the primary cause of recent population declines,” the NBII study states. “Other threats to Laysan albatross populations include invasive species and introduced predators in nesting grounds, ingestion of floating plastic debris and lead-contaminated soil by chicks, conflicts during breeding season with aircraft operation and facilities, collision with man-made structures and oil pollution.”
Initially placed in quarantine for 30 days, Makana is now receiving visitors while she waits for her new roof-top aviary to be remodeled, Slager said.
“She dines on squid and smelt, and a specially-formulated seabird multiple vitamin,” she added.
Makana is the only Laysan albatross at any U.S. aquarium or zoo, a June 21 Monterey Bay Aquarium news release states.
“The program is a good way to remind people how important it is to recycle plastics,” Slager says in the release. “If we don’t, this is the kind of beautiful animal that is threatened.”
On Midway Atoll, the major breeding ground for Laysan albatross, 40 percent of newly hatched chicks die each year, their stomachs choked with plastic debris that parent birds mistake for the fish and squid they regurgitate to feed the chicks.
The U.N. Environment Program estimates that 46,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square mile of the ocean, the release says.
“It is heartwarming to see that some individuals take the responsibility of taking care of Earth’s creatures to heart,” Thompson said.
