A dream over 20 years in the making, the sounds and sights are now coming to you live 24/7 from Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge! To view at the highest quality: play the video, click the settings cog icon on the bottom-right of the video, then select quality 1080p
This live cam is brought to you by the Friends of Midway Atoll (FOMA), and made possible by our generous members and donors. With the introduction of StarLink to this remote location requires monthly connection costs and funds to purchase and maintain harsh weather resistant equipment. Please help us keep this camera broadcasting and support wildlife conservation efforts on Midway Atoll Refuge by contributing here. Mahalo!
Note: You can zoom in the camera! Click YouTube on the video; once there, use your fingers on a touch screen (cell phone, tablet, etc.) to zoom in and out.
What You Will Experience
Any day now you will see mōlī or Laysan albatross making their grand reappearance! Keep your eyes peeled as we enjoy the wonder and beauty of the albatross returning to their natal site to raise and rear a chick of their own!
In the distance you may also see ka‘upu (black-footed albatross), the endangered koloa pōhaka (Laysan duck), manu-o-Kū (white terns), kolea (Pacific golden plovers), and ʻakekeke (ruddy turnstones). Overhead, koaʻeʻula (red-tailed tropic birds) may be viewed doing their magnificent aerial mating dance.
Be sure not to miss the evening spectacle as the nunulu (Bonin petrels) arrive by the thousands to attend to their nest sites in their underground burrows. NOTE: Midway Atoll is over 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu, HI and is on Samoa Standard Time, so during EDT there is a 7-hour time difference from the East Coast.
Starting in late October or early November, adult albatross will begin returning to Kuaihelani to reunite with their life-long mates. During this time, courtship will abound with mates reuniting after their absence from the island for several months and soon thereafter copulating and building a nest for their single egg. Mated pairs will soon settle into the exhausting effort of egg laying, incubation and then feeding their growing chicks until their eventual dispersal (fledging) to sea from late June to early August. Soon after the mated pairs arrive and begin nesting, single, mostly younger birds arrive and spend months dancing and courting others in hopes of finding their forever mate. Most of these birds return to the same vicinity where they were raised and will spend their lives breeding in the same neighborhood as their parents.
We encourage you to visit our home page to discover more about this extraordinary Refuge. Also visit the relatively new Papahānaumokuākea Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group (CWG) website here where you can discover the deep connections and historical ties to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument through a living pilina (relationship) bound by genealogy, cultural protocol, research, and stewardship. Visit their nomenclature library here to explore the meaning of Hawaiian place names such as Kuaihelani.