Every day I see more albatrosses.  It is more important than ever that people obey the leash law here.  A dog may not notice albatrosses that are sitting or standing still, but sometimes one may suddenly start running.  It is a dog’s natural instinct to chase something that starts to move fast, and just one quick grab and shake could kill an albatross.  If you see any unleashed dogs in Princeville, please call Princeville Patrol.

For several days, KP728 has been wandering Kaweonui Road looking for her mate, K305. Last year they sat on an egg  until the end of February, but it never hatched.  For as long as I have been collecting data, they have been nesting together.  Here is KP728 waiting at one of her many resting places, next to a house on the bluff.

KP728 waiting for K305

I walked by a vacant lot not far from where she was sitting, and there was K305.  She was waiting near where the two had their nest last year.  It is times like these when I just want to go and pick one of them up and carry her over to the other one.  But of course I know that they will find each other eventually.  They always do.

When I checked the golf course today, I found two new eggs.  One was sitting next to, not under a bird.  This albatross is a female who has a female partner.  About 30% of the nesting couples in Kaua’i are two females.  Sometimes they each lay an egg, which may or may not be fertile, sometimes only one of them does.  This bird may have been sitting next to her mate’s egg and may be planning on laying one of her own.  Or she could be abandoning their only egg.  Of course I will check tomorrow to see the outcome.  Stay tuned.

I will end with KP680.  Even though I check the nesting areas every day, I miss seeing some of the returning birds because they are here for less than a day.  I had not seen her, but on several days I had seen her mate, KP731, and he was always sitting in a spot on a fairway, a terrible place for a nest.  Today I found KP680 sitting on an egg across the golf cart path from her mate’s favorite spot, in some nice, long grass, out of the way of golf balls and lawn mowers.  It’s a little close to the path, but the location is a big improvement over a fairway.

680 on her egg