Eye of the Albatross Carl Safina Henry Holt & Company NY 2002

Carl Safina takes the reader through a year in the life of a Laysan Albatross called Amelia who with her mate is raising a chick on Laysan Island. A radio transmitter attached to Amelia allow the researchers to follow her travels to and from the island. Amelia avoids getting caught on a hook from the long line fishing fleet, competes with squid fishermen for her favorite food, and flies incredible distances searching for enough food for her chick and to sustain her own needs.

The seabirds and animals of the North West Hawaiian Islands have survived a bloody history of exploitation by plume hunters, World War II, and the even more dangerous cold war. Today they compete with high tech fisheries for food and with demands to turn their sandy islands into playgrounds not only for the very rich but for the working American.

The book offer insight into the lives of the men and women who live on the remote North West Hawaiian Islands doing the mundane research tasks that may help to insure the survival not only of Albatross, but the Laysan Duck, Monk Seal and other endangered sea animals.

If you have been to Midway Atoll or want to go in the future, read this book to learn more about the history and wildlife of the region. If you care about birds in general and the Albatrosses in particular, read this book to understand their fight for survival.3