The winds were blowing strong over Taiaroa Head yesterday. Albies filled the skies.
Even the container ship was pulling to one side they were so strong.
Hovering chicks were trying their wings. One, in particular, caught the eye of the camera operator.
Is this Tiaki fledgling? the 9th of September at 18:18? at 229 days old? If it is, the Rangers were really lucky to have gotten her GPS tracker on her yesterday.
We will have to wait for confirmation from Ranger Sharyn on Friday. Wow. I wonder how many other hovering chicks fledged yesterday in those strong winds? See how the Albie catchies the right wind and they are simply off. That is what Albatross and Ospreys do. They catch the winds. This allows them not to expend so much energy flapping. They are like gliders covering great distances with little effort.
Have a great day everyone. I will watch for the announcement and confirm later today. Ranger Sharyn and her team will have to be out checking all of the chicks to see who is still with them. Hopefully, they will go and check on Tiaki first. She did not sleep in or near the nest last night.
Thanks to your GPS we will get to see Tiaki’s location til her first molt. Yippee.
Tiaki practicing her hovering earlier. Stay safe Tiaki – good winds and lots of fish.
Thank you to the Cornell Bird Lab and the NZ DOC for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots and video clip.
These Albatrosses are so special. If Tiaki has fledged, may fair winds and lots of fish will follow her throughout. Live a long and healthy life !!
Thanks Mary Ann! We look forward to finding out if Tiaki has fledged. 🙏💖
She is such a beautiful albatross and we will miss watching her but wish her a wonderful life! So glad she has the GPSTracker !
You are so welcome, Linda. I am anxious, too. Her GPS shows she fledged but is still on land – so is that a real fledge? And will they go out and get her and bring her back to the nest? They did this one time with another juvenile who fledged but got caught in the wrong place. NZ takes good care of its wildlife – I hope we hear something soon.