Chandler Robbins Black-footed and Laysan Albatross from Midway Island 1956-1970

Project number:	1
Species included in study:	Laysan Albatross (Diomedea immutabilis), Black-footed albatross (Diomedea nigripes)
Location of study:	Midway Atoll is located in the Pacific Ocean, 150 miles east of the International dateline, 2200 miles west of San Francisco.
Time span:	From 1956 to 1968 intensive banding took place. Less intensive banding has occurred on the Atoll as early as 1937 and as recently as the present year.
Number of years:	14 years
Average number of newly banded birds per year:	Thousands (still being entered)
Average number of recaptures/resightings:	Thousands (still being entered)
Average number of dead recoveries:	less than 100 per year
Number of animals with telemetry data:	0
Banding codes associated with data:	3.00 - birds released
Are data digitally stored:	Partially. The original banding data and recovery data are digitally stored at the BBL. Recaptures on which replacement bands were placed also are stored digitally at the BBL in the "Multi-file" or on paper. However, the majority of the recapture data exists only on paper and are currently being entered into the computer. (see associated data)
Data access:	Data is at the BBL. With permission from Chandler Robbins (see contact)
Person(s) who collected the data set:	Primarily Chandler Robbins, but also John Aldrich and Harvey Fischer.
Miscellaneous:

Midway Island, located in the Pacific Ocean is an important nesting area for seabirds, and modern human influences on this island date back to 1904 when the Pacific Cable Company used the island during the time they were laying transatlantic telegraph cables. During the 1930’s Pan-American Airways built a hotel called Gooneyville Lodge on the island and during the 1940’s the island was intensively used during the World War II. After World War II the island was used as part of the Distant Early Warning Line and it continued to be an important military airbase. Over 300 bird-airplane collisions were taking place per year with propeller driven aircraft and jets were about to be introduced to the island. The US Navy was concerned about albatross getting sucked into jet engines and asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to get involved and solve the problem.

In 1954 two FWS biologists (Phil DuMont and Johnson Neff) performed preliminary work setting up albatross study sites. In 1956 Chandler Robbins and John Aldrich went to Midway for a couple of months (Dec-Jan), located these study sites and also had approximate locations of previous banding by Fred Hayden and the Hawaiin Audubon Society. In 1937 Fred C. Hayden banded birds near the Gooneyville Lodge area and this area became a focal study area. 1956 was the last year any remains of the Gooneyville Lodge were apparent, but many birds Phil Dumont had banded were still there. In addition, between 1937 and 1954 there had been several years when people from the Hawaiian Audubon Society went out briefly to band and recapture birds – mostly adults. From 1956 to 1968 Chan Robbins and others banded and recaptured albatross in 3 intensively studied plots on Sand Island and 3 plots on Eastern Island, as well as other less-intensively studied areas. After 1968 some banding and recaptures have continued to take place, but in a haphazard manner.

To solve the bird-plane collision problem three recommendations were made: 1.) to pave a wide strip on the edges of the runways to keep birds from nesting close to the runways, 2.) flatten a line of dunes near the runways that provided an updraft for the albatross, and caused them to fly over the runway 3.) kill the birds that had nesting territories along the runways, because they kept returning to their former breeding sites. These actions reduced the problems and the study ended.