
protected by vegetation. Three factors probably contribute to this 
vast increase in population on Sand Island. Trees and shrubs offer 
protection from wind and blowing sand. Open ground interspersed with 
the trees and shrubs offers ideal nesting sites. Roads offer un- 
obstructed avenues for albatross landings and takeoffs and terrestrial 
Locomotion between sea and nest. 
Because of relative protection of nests from wind and blown 
sand few incubating adults or nestlings in inland areas die either as 
a result of violent wind and rain or smothering under drifting sand. 
Only a few nests were established along Midway beaches. We watched 
while the majority of these vanished beneath the coral sand during 
January to March, when windstorms swept the islands for days at a time. 
It is apparent that survival has been greatly increased by the edapta- 
bility of this species to inland nesting sites. 
Roads and openings in vegetation are important for two reasons: 
First, the adult albatrosses are able to reach and leave their nests 
during practically all weather conditions. When the wind is strong 
they take off and land on roadways and lawms near their nests. When 
wind conditions are calm, hempering takeoffs, they walk down unobstructed 
avenues between trees and along roads to the beaches where they run down 
the sloping beach with flapping wings and head out to sea. Secondly, 
these landscape features reduce the mortality among fledglings. The 
young birds have open areas in which to take their first flights, and 
they may walk to the beach from inland nesting sites. 
Green Island, Kure Atoll, presents a situation in marked 
contrast to that described for Sand Island, Midway. The albatross 
populations on Green Island are very low. Our estimates of nesting 
pairs ares: Black~footed albatross, 70-100; Laysan albatross, 350-400. 
The island is only slightly smaller than Eastern Island, Midway Atoll, 
where more than 40,000 pairs of Laysan albatrosses and more than 2000 
pairs of black-footed albatrosses nested in 1956-57. Kure is only 56 
miles west of Midway and climatic conditions are similar. A dense 100- 
yard wide belt of Scaevola around the central open e2rea of the island 
cuts off free access to the sea for young birds raised inland. This 
probably accounts for the sparse population. This situation is de- 
scribed in detail elsewhere (Kenyon and Rice, In Press, Condor). 
Undoubtedly the habitat created by man on the Midway Islands through 
planting, keeping dense undergrowth under control, and avenues open to 
the beaches, is an important reason for the relatively high Laysan 
albatross populations on these islands. 
; Albatross Problem in Aircraft Operations 
Time of Occurrence of Albatross Strikes 
All recorded collisions of aircraft with albatross have 
occurred during daylight hours, between about one-half hour after sun- 
rise and one-half hour before sunset. Albatrosses are rarely in flight 
over Midway during the night. Daylight aircraft operations predominated 
21 
