I was lucky enough to visit an Albatross breeding colony on the island of Oahu. A childhood dream come true!
The Laysan albatross is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. More than 99% of the breeding population of the bird lives in the northern Hawaiian island, specifically in the midway atoll and Laysan islands. The species suffered a drastic population reduction in the early 1900s due to immense scale slaughter of populations for their feathers. The species is not recovering and is now classified as near threatened.
Albatross tend to bond for life. To the right is a pair of albatross settling in for the night in a grove of possible false sandalwood.
Occasionally, the birds form same-sex pairs consisting of two females. This has been observed in the colony on the Hawaiian island Oahu, where the sex ratio of male to female is 2 to 3 and 31% of all pairs are between females.
What's growing in the Garden State 