satellite view from PMNM
E komo mai; welcome! Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is surrounded by a lei of foam in the middle of the North Pacific; it's a beautiful, special place.

Not only are there albatross on Midway, but many other interesting kinds of wildlife, both on the land and in the sea. Please enjoy exploring FOAM, an educational blog actively done while on Midway from May through August 2010. Posts are added from off-Midway, as information becomes available. If you're interested in a particular topic, please use the search box or the alphabetical list of "labels" along the left side of the blog page.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Death of a Laysan Duck

In the post right before this one I explained that last week a Laysan Duck had been seen swimming with a plastic ring around its neck in Monument Seep on Eastern Island.  I am sorry to have to tell you that the duck was found dead this morning.  The picture on the left shows the ring...but notice that the right-hand close-up shows the band is actually cut open.  Therefore, before you throw a plastic ring away in your trash, please cut it COMPLETELY in half, meaning: into 2 pieces.  We've learned from this duck's death that even a ring which has been cut open can still kill wildlife!

But let me tell you some good news: ever since some of us Laysan Ducks were moved from Laysan Atoll to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2004 and again in '05, most of us have been doing very, very well.  Each sunrise brings the promise of positive changes for wildlife.








1 comment:

Barb said...

Kahiko, I'm so sorry to hear about this loss. But I do think if humans cause a problem (like marine debris,) then we can fix the problem. It just takes one step at a time...and I like your sunrise picture!