Counting albatrosses on Midway Atoll with funny feet

Ready to count albatrosses on Midway Atoll while wearing burrow shoes in the 2024/25 breeding season

Twelve volunteers flew into Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in early December 2025, landing after dark to avoid bird strikes.  Their task: to undertake the annual ground count of breeding Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Layan P. immutabilis Albatrosses on the three islands that make up the atoll.  “A bird counter's time and energy working 48 hours a week for a month in December through mid-January contributes to one of the longest and most consistent monitoring seabird data sets in the world”.

Volunteers prep for the 2025/26 Annual Bird Count

USFWS biologist and volunteer Dan Rapp has produced the above video of the bird counters setting up before the actual count begins.  “What are the volunteers wearing on their feet?  The weight of one human foot can easily collapse Bonin Petrel burrows. Using these so-called burrow shoes helps distribute a person's weight evenly. Each burrow shaped entrance or tunnel that appears to run along the surface of the sand is excavated by a nesting Nunulu {Bonin Petrel Pterodroma hypoleuca] pair who make their nest.  They do this by digging a deep burrow that runs parallel to the surface before the burrow runs deeper to create a safe nest cavity.  The counter must also be constantly aware of where to carefully step next.  Often times stepping next to the lower side of a burrow entrance is usually the safest bet for both birds and counters.”

Midway Atoll Sand Island Bike Tour January 2025 (33.41)

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 13 January 2026