[Just spotted a new ham radio term for the 1% of us hams who can actually totally build all of the gear in their station. I am now shifting from homebrew to "home grown rig".]
We have all heard the expression: It's for the birds! So was Midway! The islands are most famous for the Gooney Birds which are actually two species of the same bird one being the Laysan and the other being the Black Footed. Talk about segregation these birds never mixed!
For reference purposes a Gooney bird is an Albatross and has the following dimensions: About 2 feet high, weighing 6 to 7 pounds and a wingspan of 6 to 7 feet. Like an airplane they have to run a distance before they can become airborne. Their landings appear uncontrolled which is the norm. See the later video on how they are graceful in the air and terrible on the landing!
From Copilot on the birds of Midway.
There are many species (about 20 in total) that either live on Midway or nest there. One particular nesting species is the Adrenna Pacifica commonly known as "the moaning bird". This bird nests in holes in the ground and walking around at night without a flashlight is hazardous as many a sprained ankle was the result of stepping in a nesting hole.
I previously shared that I moved from the Rat-infested old Bachelor Officers Quarters [BOQ] on the second floor to the new concrete BOQ on the 1st floor. The 1st night in the new room I had the window slightly open and it was about midnight I heard this distinctive loud moan. My brain quickly assumed it was one of 6 teachers. Later that day I found out it was the Adrenna Pacifica.
You can only tell the sex of the Gooney Birds by autopsy, neither can the birds tell and it is believed that their ritual mating dance is part of their finding out if the bird on the bottom is a guy.
Take Off, Landing and Mating!
The Gooney birds are large, and many nest near the runways. Read danger to aircraft from bird strikes and so a plan was hatched to remove the birds from near the runways and use California soil cement to prevent further nesting. You can read about that here. The actual number was 22,198 and I should know as I had that project assigned to me. Daily I would send a bird report to an office in the Washington DC, Navy Office. The operation was officially observed by the Audubon Society. These Audubon guys wore khaki uniforms with a red cardinal patch on their left sleeve. In the final analysis it didn't work too well. Gooney birds are on a 7-year nesting cycle, so you have to do the pickup for 7 years not one.
I picked up the birds, but the California soil cement was done by a Detachment (Detachment Alpha) from MCB Ten. Clever Navy, I was assigned to that Detachment, when it was time to transfer duty stations. That meant two things: I spent not 12 months on Midway but 13 months, and secondly two hardship duty station assignments back-to-back. This was not the norm. This was not good for me. I later found out why that happened.
Gooney birds had an amazing navigation system as I witnessed a test conducted while I was there. Six Gooney birds were captured, banded and flown to Seattle. Three days later they were all back on Midway. BTW Gooney bird's nest about 1/2 yard from where they were hatched. (The why 7 years was needed.) The burning question for the Navy... how is this possible?
I saw the famous movie "The Birds" shortly before arriving on Midway. There were above ground power wires stretching to the Officers Club which was located near the beach. Yep, birds would nest on those wires just like in the movie and it was scary.
It was asked of me prior to going to Midway, do you like bird watching. I answered not particularly and the response back was you will.
Them that know can make things go
73's
Pete N6QW
