Midway Atoll’s Short-tailed Albatross pair, George and Geraldine, return for a new breeding season

 George and Geraldine (in front) on Midway Atoll, December 2025

George and Geraldine, the solitary pair of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific, have returned to their usual Sand Island breeding site this month.  Alongside the pair is their 2019 fledgling.

 The pair’s 2019 chick close to its parents, December 2025.  Photographs by USFWS Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Jon Plissner

The two birds have successfully raised and fledged five chicks in the last six breeding seasons, with no success in the last (2024/25) season.  Read more about George and Geraldine here and in previous articles posted to ACAP Latest News.

Information from the Facebook page of the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 December 2025