birds than people call it home.
This meant riding a bike could be a rather large challenge at times, especially hauling laundry/camera/food loads while trying to
avoid the squeaky juveniles and ducking from the most graceful, but less maneuverable adult Laysons. This proved to be even more
difficult in the evenings with mice and larger-than-mice cockroaches out and about. There were no streetlamps either which helped
cope with the incidental mice-squishing. I am pleased to report there was no bird squishing.
There was much hooting and hollering once we made sight of Midway. Then it took an hour to actually reach it. The entrance looked
easy enough but we followed the rules and waited outside for 20 minutes discussing our plans for the day: diving, picture-taking,
eating, internet, laundry, all that good stuff.
We had 4/5 takers for diving originally.
My senile father was at the helm watching the birds. He was laughing at how there were two goony birds in front of us, one taking
off and the other sinking. …Birds don't sink. He can be real mental sometimes.
But that's beside the point. The goony was sinking! There was a rather gigantic Tiger Shark chomping the little goony!
Little goonies (albatross) can have a wingspan between five and six feet. Compare that to the tip of the shark's snout and dorsal
fin!
We had 0/5 takers for diving subsequently.
That was pretty exciting to see in the very first moments on/around Midway. We were officially fired up to see more.
We arrived sort of unexpectedly that afternoonish, interrupting the Cubs game and people's day off. We still had an exceptional
welcoming! I think it's fair enough to say that everyone aboard the Minnow was genuinely surprised with the extent of friendliness
and helpfulness from everyone on the island. We even received a bread-maker paddle!
Those guys are rock stars, and we couldn't thank them enough for the help and amazing food (because everyone knows that Midway has
some of the best Thai food in the world).
We toured the island by bicycle everyday, losing the layers of pudding, scones, and cake we had gained from 10 days before.
It's difficult to describe Midway entirely. It's much like an avian takeover with abandoned WWII buildings that once housed 5,000
people. Everywhere we went there was some sort of animal whistling/eating/pooping/flapping/buzzing around us. There were geckos in
the shower, turtles and monk seals breathing outside our open portholes, birds birds birds birds birds birds curious and watching us
everywhere.
The white terns were fun. They're like miniature white hovercrafts following you, no matter if you're kayaking, walking, or
bicycling. They lay their eggs practically anywhere (they don't build nests) so it's fairly common to see their chicks in surprising
locations such as the very edge of a pier block or the tip top of a building. They've got monstrous grip with their teeny blue/black
feet.
The Red-tailed Tropicbirds were noisy and very acrobatic.
The Laysons were ridiculously personal. They acted much like people: friendly, irritable, curious, and entertaining. Their whistles
were very quiet, sweet and innocent. They clacked their beaks when irritated or scared so one can imagine the applause received
while riding a bike down any road.
One thing I was skeptical and curious about was the "huge" plastic problem on Midway. It's location in the Pacific supposedly makes
it very susceptible to plastic washing ashore from the Pacific High.
Yes, there are definitely problems.
Albatross chicks regurgitate a pellet-like thing which contains all of the indigestible material such as squid beaks, bones, and the
like. Every pellet-like thing I saw contained plastic. The biologists estimated nearly 5 tons of plastic is brought ashore annually
by the adult albatross, who then feed their chicks whatever's in their stomach.
Here's a list of what I saw everywhere on the island (all of which most likely brought in by albatross): loads and loads of
lighters, bottle caps, Styrofoam, broken tubing, pens, toothbrush, degraded fishing line, small toys, and the majority of it
unidentifiable plastic bits.
That's nothing compared to the amount of plastic washed ashore. The number given to me was 8 to 12 metric tons of fishing junk alone
wash ashore on Midway each year. That's a lot for an atoll that small.
I could keep jabbering about Midway being a nesting ground for the Pacific Green Sea Turtles and a haul out for Hawaiian Monk Seals
when they pup and what role the garage has in that, but that would probably make me even more of a granola-head than I already am.
The plastic problem of Midway is pretty gloomy. But Midway's got some pretty neat things too, with a stable if not increasing
population of Layson albatross (world population of all albatross are on the decline) and a very successful introduction of Layson
Duck, which was down to 12 individuals in the world at one time and now triple clutch on Midway!
The Layson Ducks were probably the most curious animal on the island, and very easy to miss. They're extremely quiet, small, and
cute. They would pop up out of no where and run around shyly.
Midway had a bunch of trees for a Pacific Island, then I found out they were introduced Ironwood trees. About three-fourths if
Midway's plant species are introduced! Native species restoration sounds like a real pain.
The diving was a whole lot of fun. There was hardly any coral for reasons debatable but the fishies were neat and friendly,
especially the sharks swarming Mike and Bob. Josh and I swam in huge schools of fish and even saw two monk seals. The bigger fish
scared me.
The end.
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