---
title: "UPDATE: Incubation underway.  Short-tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine return to Midway Atoll"
---

# UPDATE: Incubation underway.  Short-tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine return to Midway Atoll

**UPDATE: BREEDING UNDERWAY**

 ![Geraldine Nov 2020](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Short_tailed/Geraldine_Nov_2020.jpg)

 *Geraldine incubates her 2020 egg, photograph by J. Plissner/USFWS*

 "The game camera images show that the female laid the egg on the evening/night of October 28. She remained at the nest with the male often present until the following morning.

 The male then sat with the egg until the afternoon of November 15, when the female returned and took over incubation duties. The male remained with the female for five hours before taking off and has yet to return for his next stint. We're expecting the egg to hatch sometime around January 1" - [Pacific Islands: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Facebook Page](https://www.facebook.com/PacificIslandsFWS/).  
   ![George Geraldine Oct 2020 Jon Brack USFWS Volunteer](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Short_tailed/George__Geraldine_Oct_2020_Jon_Brack-USFWS_Volunteer.jpg)

 *George (left) and Geraldine return to Midway, photograph by Jon Brack, USFWS Volunteer*

 George and Geraldine, currently the only successfully breeding Short-tailed Albatross *Phoebastria albatrus* pair outside of Japan, reunited last month on Sand Island, [Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge](https://acap.aq/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1434-acap-breeding-site-no-36-midway-atoll-black-footed-laysan-and-short-tailed-albatrosses-within-a-world-heritage-site).  Last season the [globally Vulnerable](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/short-tailed-albatross-phoebastria-albatrus) pair [successfully fledged](https://acap.aq/latest-news/3637-short-tailed-albatrosses-george-and-geraldine-get-their-latest-chick-banded-on-midway-atoll?highlight=WyJnZXJhbGRpbmUiLCJnZXJhbGRpbmUncyJd) their second chick, after first meeting up on the island in 2016.

 Read more about the Short-tailed Albatross pair [here](https://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/182615123640/george-and-geraldine-a-short-tailed-albatross).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer. 05 November 2020, updated 01 December 2020*