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Albatross chick, father settle into new digs
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| Prince, the three-month-old Laysan albatross chick that used to live along Ka Haku Road in Princeville, is now in the care of members of a team of Japanese scientists after his father, Longshot, was struck by a car last week. Both were moved to the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge last weekend. |
By Ford Gunter - The Garden Island
High on a bluff at Crater Hill in the Kilauea Point National Wild-life Refuge, two Laysan albatrosses displaced from their Princeville nest are quietly adapting to their new surroundings.
The two, a father and his chick, are now in the care of members of a Japanese research team hand-rearing 10 albatross chicks born on Midway Atoll in an experiment to see if relocation of certain endangered and threatened species can work in Japan.
From the hillside, the chicks can see the ocean they will one day patrol, and feel the stiff trade winds that will carry them there.
So, too, can Longshot, the 18-year-old adult male albatross.
His return to the sea, however, is less likely.
Last Friday, Longshot was struck by a car on Ka Haku Road in Princeville, shattering his left wing.
Upon Longshot's arrival at Pegasus Veterinary Clinic in Moloa'a, Dr. Scott Sims inserted several pins in the bird's left upper wing bone.
Sims put the bird's chances of flying again at one in four, hence the new name.
Unfortunately for Longshot, his livelihood depends on his ability to fly. But things are looking good so far.
"He is alert, strong and feisty," said Brenda Zaun, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who assisted Sims in the surgery.
On Tuesday, Zaun brought Longshot back to Sims for his first post-op exam and bandage change.
"He was very pleased," Zaun said. "No indication of infection, no swelling. Although it will be months before we know if it is healing correctly (for Longshot) to fly again, so far, so good."
Tomoko Harada, a member of the Japanese Midway team, is feeding both Longshot and Prince daily, as well as administering Longshot's antibiotics twice per day.
"She has been a tremendous help to me in caring for this bird," Zaun said.
Zaun said Longshot will likely stay in the pen she built for him throughout his recovery, though she will eventually expand it.
"For now, we don't want him walking around too much, which could damage or tear the bandage," she said.
While Longshot's activity is limited to preening himself (a good sign, according to Zaun), Prince, the three-month-old chick, will have to resume normal development without the help of his parents.
Because a baby albatross depends on both of its parents for food, the decision to move the chick from his Princeville nest was an easy one for Zaun, and she is confident that the incident will not have a lasting effect on him.
"Albatrosses are generally not protective of their chicks," she said, explaining the distancing between Prince and Longshot.
"I have not observed any interaction between them. I don't know if they recognize each other now that they are both out of their nesting area."
Zaun said that, although the mother will return once or twice after finding her nest empty, she should be fine as well, and will find another mate when she returns for the breeding season in the fall.
Unless, of course, Longshot is flying by then.
Albatrosses mate for life, and return to the same nesting grounds year after year. If Long-shot is able to fly by November, Zaun said, they could reunite.
Ford Gunter, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or fgunter@kauaipubco.com.
The two, a father and his chick, are now in the care of members of a Japanese research team hand-rearing 10 albatross chicks born on Midway Atoll in an experiment to see if relocation of certain endangered and threatened species can work in Japan.
From the hillside, the chicks can see the ocean they will one day patrol, and feel the stiff trade winds that will carry them there.
So, too, can Longshot, the 18-year-old adult male albatross.
His return to the sea, however, is less likely.
Last Friday, Longshot was struck by a car on Ka Haku Road in Princeville, shattering his left wing.
Upon Longshot's arrival at Pegasus Veterinary Clinic in Moloa'a, Dr. Scott Sims inserted several pins in the bird's left upper wing bone.
Sims put the bird's chances of flying again at one in four, hence the new name.
Unfortunately for Longshot, his livelihood depends on his ability to fly. But things are looking good so far.
"He is alert, strong and feisty," said Brenda Zaun, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who assisted Sims in the surgery.
On Tuesday, Zaun brought Longshot back to Sims for his first post-op exam and bandage change.
"He was very pleased," Zaun said. "No indication of infection, no swelling. Although it will be months before we know if it is healing correctly (for Longshot) to fly again, so far, so good."
Tomoko Harada, a member of the Japanese Midway team, is feeding both Longshot and Prince daily, as well as administering Longshot's antibiotics twice per day.
"She has been a tremendous help to me in caring for this bird," Zaun said.
Zaun said Longshot will likely stay in the pen she built for him throughout his recovery, though she will eventually expand it.
"For now, we don't want him walking around too much, which could damage or tear the bandage," she said.
While Longshot's activity is limited to preening himself (a good sign, according to Zaun), Prince, the three-month-old chick, will have to resume normal development without the help of his parents.
Because a baby albatross depends on both of its parents for food, the decision to move the chick from his Princeville nest was an easy one for Zaun, and she is confident that the incident will not have a lasting effect on him.
"Albatrosses are generally not protective of their chicks," she said, explaining the distancing between Prince and Longshot.
"I have not observed any interaction between them. I don't know if they recognize each other now that they are both out of their nesting area."
Zaun said that, although the mother will return once or twice after finding her nest empty, she should be fine as well, and will find another mate when she returns for the breeding season in the fall.
Unless, of course, Longshot is flying by then.
Albatrosses mate for life, and return to the same nesting grounds year after year. If Long-shot is able to fly by November, Zaun said, they could reunite.
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Ronald Pray wrote on Oct 17, 2009 5:14 AM:
I am a former U.S. Coast Guard Search and rescue team member at Barbers Point. I never read the scathing November 28 article about a rescue I did in 1977 while on leave.
In November of 1977 I had visited Kauai on leave and hiked the Na Pali coast to go camping. On the trail I saw some hikers in front of me ignore the cries of a man saying he was poisoned by mushrooms he had eaten. I know that there are many poisonous varieties from the orange mushrooms to the copelandia varieties which are deadly. I stopped and he was vomitting and telling me that he was dying. I laid my sleeping bag down onto the ground and made him comfortable then lit my coleman stove and cooked him soup to eat. He ate the soup and continued vomitting. He said that he needed immediate attention. I ecouraged him to vommit everything out of his stomache.
I asked him if he would be OK while I ran back to Haena for help and he said please do that.
I ran from his location sometimes skipping the zig-zags in the trails steep inclines jumping straight down to the trail below. I had injured my Achilles tendon by twisting my ankle which put me on light duty upon returning to Barbers Point.
I then knocked on the first door I found and asked them to contact the U.S. Coast Guard that there was a man stranded on the trail who needed immediate attention.
The Fire Department went in on the trail and found the man walking out on his own. This is why the writer in 1977 claimed that I had misread the situation and that is why he called my rescue "The Rescue that wasn't". I believe that had that man died, his death would have been on my ticket and given that rescuing folks was my business I had a responsibility to perform.
We may never know what part my inducing vomiting played in the recovery of this man. I'd like to believe that it played a major role in his quick recovery.
I am proud that I stood for the highest traditions of the U.S. Coast Guard on that fateful day on the Na Pali Coast.To this day, I have a lump in my Achilles Tendon which hurts on certain days to remind me of that day I ran into that man.
Malama Pono,
Former 3rd Class Petty Officer Ronald Pray "