A critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal sleeping soundly on the beach. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Hawaiian monk seals resting on Sand Island at low tide. The islet is awash at high tide. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Thousand of endangered black-footed albatross chicks nested amidst marine debris on the northern end of the island. ( Laysan Island )
Great frigatebirds perch on the broken remains of a fishing boat that washed ashore on Seal-Kittery Island. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A newborn masked booby stays warm off the ground on top of their parent's foot. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Sooty terns float on sea breezes near their colony. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A green sea turtle swimming below the Cargo Pier. ( Midway Atoll )
Seals that roll in the sand are known as “shake-and-bake” to the scientists who study them. (Laysan Island)
Conglomerations of fishing nets, often called “ghost nets,” can catch on reefs and damage coral. They're also dangerous entanglement hazards to Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles, and seabirds such as this black-footed albatross chick. ( Pearl
Adult seabirds return to land with stomachs full of food for their chicks. Sometimes that meal includes marine debris that is mistaken for food, such as with this brown booby pair. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A decomposed albatross chick displays the stomach full of plastic debris that significantly contributed to its early death. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
This critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal pup plays with a plastic buoy that washed ashore after likely being lost or discarded from a fishing boat. Any hoops, loops or ghost nets are hazards to these curious animals because of their potential f
An endangered Laysan finch perched on marine debris with Japanese writing. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Hawaiian monk seals enjoy resting against something while they sleep, such as this tangled mess of marine debris line. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Red-tailed tropicbird soaring in an onshore breeze. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
The invasive verbesina plant might bloom beautifully, but it also chokes out native plants and can grow densely enough to inhibit Laysan albatross chicks from being able to extend their wings while learning how to fly. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Sooty terns nest in a dense colony on Southeast Island. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Black-footed albatross chicks swarm an adult while begging for a regurgitated meal. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
An adult male Hawaiian monk seal rests on the beach after spending the previous week at sea traveling several hundred miles and diving to over a thousand feet to feed on lobsters and eels. ( Laysan Island )
One remaining WWII naval gun still guards the shoreline of Eastern Island. ( Midway Atoll )
Juvenile brown boobies perched into the onshore winds on Eastern Island. ( Midway Atoll )
A Laysan albatross poses with the Battle of Midway Memorial. ( Midway Atoll )
A Hawaiian monk seal sleeps against the WWII pillbox on Sand Island. ( Midway Atoll )
A weaned Hawaiian monk seal pup plays an old military dump, now commonly known as Rusty Bucket. ( Midway Atoll )
This Laysan albatross chick has left its nest, walked to the beach, and is almost ready to fly out to sea. ( Midway Atoll )
Two male Hawaiian monk seals fight for beach dominance and the attention of a female seal (that had already fled the scene). ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A mother green sea turtle crawls to the ocean after spending her night digging a pit nest and laying eggs deep under a protective layer of sand. ( Laysan Island )
King tides flood a normally dry area of Southeast Island where brown boobies nest. As climate change causes ocean levels to rise, situations like this will happen more often. It is unknown if this egg survived. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands began feeling the negative effects of humanity from visiting whaling ships in the 1800’s. The area was first protected by Theodore Roosevelt when he created the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation in 1909 to slow the
Brown boobies perch on the rusting remains of a shipwrecked Japanese fishing boat. ( Laysan Island )
A snowboarding boot that washed ashore thousands of miles away from any snow or mountain. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A plastic toy soldier face down in the atoll’s coarse sand. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A hard hat with gooseneck barnacles likely lost overboard from a ship in the Japanese fishing industry. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A car tire covered in gooseneck barnacles that grew during its time adrift at sea. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
An adult Hawaiian monk seal sleeping partially inside of an unidentified piece of plastic marine debris. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
The marine debris that washes ashore in Papahānaumokuākea includes bottles, buoys, fishing nets, shoes, light bulbs, refrigerator doors, car bumpers, and just about anything buoyant that ends up in the ocean. ( Laysan Island )
Two crosses memorialize the deaths of a pair of Japanese workers during guano mining activities in the early 1900’s. (Laysan Island)
The first touch of noses between a Hawaiian monk seal mother and her pup, born only a few minutes earlier. ( Laysan Island )
This mother teaches her Hawaiian monk seal pup how to swim. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
This weaned Hawaiian monk seal pup plays with a broken glass bottle under the Eastern Island pier as seen through a slat in its boards. ( Midway Atoll )
Three-month-old Hawaiian monk seal pups socializing in the shallows. ( Laysan Island )
Ready to fledge, these black-footed albatross chicks have left their inland nests and grouped together at the shoreline. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
An adult black-footed albatross returns to land to feed it's chick a regurgitated meal. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Black-footed albatross run across the surface of the water to become airborne while at sea. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Marine debris comes in all shapes and sizes, including this fiberglass fishing boat that washed ashore on Southeast Island. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Bird Island has enough area to host three resting Hawaiian monk seals at low tide. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A young Hawaiian monk seal sleeps on exposed reef after spending several weeks feeding at sea. Algae sometimes grows in their fur and temporarily turns them green. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
An accumulation of marine debris pushed by strong winter storms into the interior of Southeast Island. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
Black-footed albatross nests are just simple depressions scraped in the sand. This chick’s nest sits amid a variety of marine debris. ( Laysan Island )
Black-footed albatross chicks waiting on the beach to fledge. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
A clear Milky Way over the NOAA field camp tents. ( Pearl and Hermes Atoll )
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