Albatross Count

I'm back on Midway for the albatross count. Seventeen of us will count every active nest on Sand Island, Eastern Island and Spit Island over the next 3 weeks. There are several different ways the count is accomplished but most of the techniques include putting a small dot of traffic paint beside each nest and then following along the line of counted nests established by the counter nearest you. The total count will probably be somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 nests so we learn a lot about large numbers. The total number of albatross on the 3 islands is about a million nesting albatross and then about 500,000 non breeding adults so there are lots of albatross around us all the time. These 3 island comprise the largest albatross colony on the planet.