It is of interest to note that of 76 birds whose mates were 
killed in an experiment during the incubation period of the 1956-57 
season, only 10 (13 percent) remated and nested the following season, 
whereas at least 29 of the remaining 66 birds returned to the same 
area as unemployed birds. It thus appears that less than one year is 
normally insufficient time for unmated birds to establish a pair bond 
and to nest. Therefore killing one of a pair would reduce the amount 
of reproduction the next year but would increase the number of un- | 
employed birds on the breeding area. 
Permanence of the Nesting Site 
Adult albatrosses, once they have selected a nest site, 
appear to return to the same site year after year. Many birds banded 
as adults in 1938 at the site of Gooneyville Lodge (now destroyed) were 
still nesting there during the 1956-57 and 1957-58 seasons; none have 
ever been found nesting elsewhere. 
During the 1956-57 season, the locations of the nests of 166 
marked pairs of Laysan albatrosses on the post office lawn were plotted 
on a large-scale map. The following year (1957-58) 101 of these pairs 
returned intact and nested. The locations of their nests were again 
mapped. By comparing the two seasons! maps, the distances the birds 
moved their nest sites between subsequent seasons was measured. The 
results were as follows: 
Distance moved Number of pairs Percent 
O-1 meter 44 43.5 
1-2 meters 34 33.7 
2-3 = 11 10.9 
3-4 7 ~—~6.9 
4-5 *® 3 3.0 
5-6 2 2.0 
6+ " ‘@) 0 
| Over 50 percent of all pairs constructed their nests within 
1.3 meters of the previous year's site. In general, those nesting 
adjacent to an obvious landmark, such as a tree or bush, or the corner 
of a building, showed less deviation than those which nested in the 
middle of a large expanse of open lawn. 
The effects of the elimination of nesting areas by construc- 
tion of buildings, parking areas, etc., is not known. Presumably the 
birds would eventually take up residence elsewhere, perhaps in the 
nearest suitable area, but they did not do so immediately in areas 
of displacement due to 1957 construction. It is probable that one or 
more seasons must elapse before new nesting sites are selected by pairs 
which have lost their former sites. 
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