[Tweeters] Yayyy! Wisdom is back on Midway Atoll

[Ronda Stark via Tweeters]

Hi Nagi,

I hope you will consider sending email directly to Friends of Midway Atoll.
They have raised $75,000 for the drone project and they are seeking an
additional $25,000 in funding for the project. The website suggests that if
the human census and the drone census produce similar results that there
will be a more permanent change for how counts are conducted.
The assumption seemed to be that this would be less intrusive for the
albatross and that was why I raised the question.

I remember the Bolsa Chica crash and I believe that was deliberate--
teenagers who thought it was acceptable to disturb the colony?

Thank you,
Ronda

On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 9:01 AM Nagi Aboulenein <nagi.aboulenein at gmail.com>
wrote:


> Sorry, didn’t include Tweeters in my original reply. Here it is again,

> with Tweeters now included.

>

> Usage of drones would be very worrisome - there was an incident a few

> years ago, where a drone crashed into an Elegant Tern nesting colony at

> Bolsa Chica in southern California, resulting in a total nesting failure

> for the entire colony for that year.

>

> Drones don’t just crash because of stupid operator mistakes - drones can

> also crash due to technical failure, power loss, etc. Results of a drone

> crash on nesting success would worry me a lot.

>

> Thanks!

> —

> Nagi Aboulenein

>

>

> On Friday, Nov 21, 2025 at 08:35, Ronda Stark via Tweeters <

> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> Thank you to everyone for taking the time to share their experiences!

>

> On the website, I see they are planning to conduct the usual census and

> they are also raising funds to purchase drones to conduct an aerial census

> and compare results. Can anyone comment on that approach?

>

> Bob, were you part of a scientific study? I thought visitation to the area

> was greatly restricted.

>

> Ronda

>

> On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 12:17 AM Carla Conway <mikiconway at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>> Hi Ronda,

>> Thank you so much for planning a gift to FOMA, it will be greatly

>> appreciated. FOMA also supports scientific research and conservation by

>> providing funding for projects such as the annual nesting albatross census.

>> They covered the cost of meals for our group when I was a nest census

>> volunteer in 2021-22 and it helped a lot!

>> Smiles,

>> Carla

>>

>> On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM Scott Richardson via Tweeters <

>> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>>

>>> I’ve appreciated FOMA’s dedication to both the natural history and

>>> cultural history of the atoll. The umbrella makes a lot of sense for the

>>> place. Their website covers a lot!

>>>

>>> Scott

>>>

>>> On Nov 20, 2025, at 19:05, Ronda Stark via Tweeters <

>>> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>>>

>>> 

>>> Thank you for posting about Wisdom. I am planning to gift to Friends of

>>> Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. If you happen to know anything about

>>> their work please contact me.

>>>

>>> Ronda

>>>

>>> On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM Ellen Blackstone via Tweeters <

>>> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>>>

>>>> Wisdom, the Laysan Albatross that is at least 75 years old, is back on

>>>> Midway Atoll!

>>>>

>>>> https://friendsofmidway.org/

>>>>

>>>> Cheers all around!

>>>>

>>>> Ellen Blackstone

>>>> Edmonds WA

>>>> ellenblackstone AT gmail DOT COM

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