Happy Independence Day!

Midway always celebrates holidays in style!  Our MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) committee, a military base tradition, decorated our Captain Brooks Tavern beautifully and organized several games that lasted nearly all day on Saturday to celebrate America’s Independence Day.  Here’s a photo of me, Midway’s deputy refuge manager John Klavitter, his wife Leona Laniawe, and our hotel manager Toy in our 4^th of July splendor.  Games included volleyball, horseshoes, and a tug-of-war – so much fun!

Our head cook, Pong, organized a delicious feast, which included a roasted pig he’s carving in this photo, as well as watermelon, ambrosia, burgers, cookies, and much, much more!

I took a break from the festivities to wander parts of Sand Island I hadn’t seen yet this year.  I found the first albino albatross (photo right) reported this year, which has now been nicknamed Whitey and is being closely observed by the construction crew working near it.  I also photographed white tern, tropic bird, and albatross chicks at various stages.  White tern chicks (photo below) are always adorable!!

Unfortunately, heavy rain and thunderstorms have been reducing our number of work-days lately, but I still have lots of computer work to do, so I’ve been keeping busy!  We can work in rain (after all, we’re wet anyway!), but thunderstorms and strong winds keep us off the water.  June frequently has a lot of rain and bad weather, so it’s easier to work in August and September.  Oh, well, we love Midway anyway!