Melinda Conners, on Tern Island, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge -- Masked and red-footed boobies on Tern Island have just started laying their eggs. They start breeding slightly later than black-footed and Laysan albatross.

Melinda Conners, on Tern Island, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge - The albatross chicks are growing like weeds!  The adults are leaving the chicks unattended for days on end while they endlessly forage throughout the North Pacific Ocean to provide their rapidly growing chick with high-calorie chick-meals. 

Melinda Conners, on Tern Island, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge -- This unique bird is the product of a union between a Laysan albatross and a black-footed albatross. Both of these species breed on Tern Island.