We have had the pleasure of receiving a heartwarming story from Dr. Jon Plissner which is shared below. He is a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Supervisory Wildlife Biologist, who spent more than eight years living and working on Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) before departing on February 10, 2026, and with an official retirement that April. Over a 35-year career focused primarily on avian conservation, Jon grew from a first-time Midway volunteer into one of the atoll's most respected scientific leaders, serving as a field biologist, project lead, mentor, data steward, and ultimately Supervisory Biologist.
This spring, an Earth Day bird presentation at a public school by in northern Virginia led to an unexpected and memorable encounter with a young albatross enthusiast. Dr. Jon Plissner shares this incredibly heartwarming encounter below.
“My sister is a public school teacher in northern Virginia. For the past few years, she has taught sixth graders at the same elementary school I attended—and, in fact, I spent sixth grade in the very same classroom. I have to admit, though, that she has completely transformed the room from what I vaguely remember.
For Earth Day this year, she asked if I would be willing to give a short presentation about birds to all three sixth-grade classes and then lead the students on an outing around the school grounds to see what birds we could find. She cautioned me that the attention span of kids that age meant I should limit the presentation to about 15 minutes. As you might imagine, that is difficult for me to accomplish when I can barely get through a month of updates about Midway in a short time! Still, I managed to put together something in roughly that timeframe—provided I didn't stray too far off course.
My title slide featured the photo I often use for albatross presentations, showing all three of Midway's albatross species.
The presentation was scheduled for the school's dining hall/auditorium, where all of the students first gather each morning before their teachers lead them to their respective classrooms. As my sister and I were setting up among the throng of students, with the title slide displayed on the screen, a small boy excitedly approached us.
His name was Chiemelie, a third grader, and he immediately exclaimed that albatrosses were his favorite birds.
He then began telling us about a particular individual that was the oldest living bird—more than 70 years old! I told him that I used to work where she (Wisdom) lives.
Chiemelie was disappointed to learn that his grade wasn't going to hear my presentation. He then headed off with the rest of his classmates.
I managed to keep the presentation to about 20 minutes, and the sixth graders seemed to remain attentive. After answering several questions, the teachers handed out birding workbooks that my sister had received from Cornell, and we all headed outside to look for birds and record our observations.
As it turned out, pretty much the entire school had plans for outdoor Earth Day activities. Birds in the suburbs are not particularly easy to see or hear when a few hundred young people are running around a schoolyard.
After about 20 minutes, however, a pair of turkey vultures flying overhead drew excited shouts from a number of sixth graders among the mix of students across the play fields:
“I see a bird!”
Then Chiemelie came running up to me and asked if I had any pictures of albatrosses.
I started scrolling through the photos on my phone, but before I could show him any, he said dejectedly that his teacher was calling for her class to head back inside. He ran off to join his classmates.
I kept thinking about that brief encounter afterward. It seemed like a good opportunity to help fuel Chiemelie's interest in birds, so I asked my sister if she could get a few things to him through his teacher—the teacher Chiemelie had named when he first approached us that morning.
I gave my sister several items I had purchased from the Friends of Midway Atoll: a stuffed albatross, the Laysan albatross family mousepad, and “Plants of Midway,” along with several stickers.
The gifts were delivered to Chiemelie on the second-to-last day of the school year. My sister said he couldn't contain himself with joy. She took and sent me a couple of video clips of his reaction. Here are a few screenshots:
I was about Chiemelie's age when I first became enthralled by birds. Maybe this will become a lifelong passion for him as well.
And someday, perhaps, he may get the chance to walk among the albatrosses himself.
Who knows? Maybe one day he will even get to watch in wonder as a 100-plus-year-old Wisdom begins another nesting season.”
Jon
Our heartfelt gratitude to the parents of Chiemelie, Heather & Chinedu, for allowing us to share this story & screenshots.
If you would like to share the love of albatross with your young children or grandchildren, visit our online store featuring a variety of items! All profits directly support the conservation work on Kuaihelani.
Stay up-to-date on the latest news by subscribing to our free monthly newsletter here!