Rare Birds Expand Breeding Grounds

Two pairs of the short-tailed albatross have been known to be very rare and have been only found on two of the Japanese islands. Recently, this rare species of birds have been found breeding and nesting on Kure Atoll and Midway Atoll, which are American national wildlife refuges in the Hawaiian Islands. Jessica Hardesty Norris stated, "Where they breed in Japan is a pretty decent habitat, but there’s a really active and nasty volcano, it could wipe out the species, so we are excited about the prospect of another viable colony.” Although the bird once lived in the Pacific islands, many people used their magnificent feathers for hats and other decorative purposes. Due to the fact that people kill these birds for their feathers, there are only approximately 3,000 adult short-tailed albatross' left on the planet. In 1939, some of the breeding grounds in Torishima, Japan, were damaged in a volcanic eruption, and the number of nesting pairs fell to about 10 but the population has been slowly going up. With the new discovery of the birds' habitat, there is a lot more hope of this species rebuilding its population.