It’s pouring rain outside making this day ideal for preparing the food rations for our expedition to the North Pole and final packing…

Tomorrow we’ll leave from Milan for Oslo.

My last day… I can’t believe a week has already past by… soooo fast!
What a great week! I’ve learned so much… a wonderful Paradise inhabited by cheerful and beautiful creatures, poisoned by our “civilisation”.
The “New Midway battle” is still to be won but there are thousands of people working on this!
I met some wonderful people, spent hours observing the Albatross love dances, hours photographing adorable and funny young chicks, hours biking on the old airstrips looking for strong images, hours walking on gorgeous white sandy beaches covered with plastic debris.
I’ll never forget it and will do my very best to try and spread the message around the world!

HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE!

Midway Atoll’s story is a story of usurpation and violence. Untouched and pristine till early 1900, its landscape started to change in 1903 when the U.S. Navy took control of the Archipelago because of its highly strategic geographical position: just midway between Japan and the United States.
Thousands of tons of soil were imported to Sand Island in order to create gardens and grow vegetables. New plants and animals were introduced.
Thousands of tons of cement were imported to build the military base.
Thousands of tons of tar were imported in order to asphalt the long airstrips needed by the navy.
A part of the Southern Reef was destroyed in order to dredge a channel to allow big ships and submarines to access the Island.
Thousands of Albatross were killed in order to allow a “safe” landing and take off for bombardiers.
Then, World War II and its famous Midway battle which changed the geo-political situation of the world. The battle was won but Midway is still fighting to get back to its original beauty.

A couple of Laysan Albatross resting in front of the debris coming from the destruction of the military base.

Laysan Albatross took over the Island and are now nesting among the ruins of the abounded military base.

Finally with the end of the war and a more environmental sensitivity, in 1988 the National Wildlife Refuge was established and in 2006 the North Western Hawaiian Islands were designated as a National Monument.

Many great and very challenging projects are now under the management of the Fish and Wildlife Service with the common objective of enhancing the quality of habitat on the Islands:

-       preventing the reintroduction of rats;
-       controlling noxious plants and replanting native vegetation;
-       tearing down of old and dangerous navy buildings;
-       beach clean-ups;
-       elimination of overheard wiring, deadly for many birds;
-       closing some of the beaches to human activities in order to grant peace for endangered species which restart reproduction on the Island;
-       protection of shoreline and fishing net removal from reefs;
-       protection of historic sites;

Volunteers at work for the Verbesina control project a very invasive imported plant.

I woke up at 6.00 ready for sunrise… the sky looked cloudy but I decided to give it a try… first rule in photography… BE THERE…

Spent the rest of the day biking around the islands photographing the terns in love and the other wonderful birds.

Midway Atoll is a 6.2 km² atoll located in the North Pacific Ocean (near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago), about 5,200 km west of San Francisco and 4,100 km east of Tokyo.

The Archipelago is mainly known for its important role during Word War II and the battle of Midway in June 1942 that changed the tide of war in the Pacific. On September 2000 it was designated as the Battle of Midway National Memorial  “so that the heroic courage and sacrifice of those who fought against overwhelming odds to win an incredible victory will never be forgotten.” 

But Midway is also part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, one of the worlds most spectacular wildlife location. In fact, nearly two million birds call it home for much of the year.

For safety issues we land on the Island well after sunset. During daylight the birds are very active and landing would be extremely dangerous for the plane and the birds themselves. 

We are warmly welcomed by the sound of thousands of nesting birds, mostly albatross and petrels… In the dark it is difficult to see them all… but we can guess from the smell and the sound that there are plenty.

In the morning the view is simply breathtaking!

from my room’s window:

they are everywhere you turn, looks like a  scene from the famous film “The birds” by Alfred Hitchcock!

The Lysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) is definivelly the kind of the Archipelago. Seventy-one percent of the world’s population nests on Midway. In January 2008, 452,609 breeding pairs were nesting on all three islands of Midway Atoll (Sand: 274,043; Eastern: 176,561; and Spit: 2,005).

Another wonderful species of Albatross  found at Midway is the Black Footed (Phoebastria albatrus) a very elegant bird.

The Archipelago has the second largest Black-footed Albatross population in the world. In January 2008, the total number of breeding pairs on Sand, Eastern, and Spit Islands was 25,320.

The chicks of both species are very similar and difficult to distinguish. Generally the Black Footed Albatross have darker beak and feed but lighter down.

Both looks simply adorable….