First Birding Photos

The tourism ad depicted below, appearing in the ABA magazine Birding, triggered a memory.

Midway Island Poster

Long before I was interested in birding, while serving as a Naval officer, my ship had stopped at the Midway Islands in June, 1971. Although the Islands served as a Naval Base, they were also -even then- a National Wildlife Refuge. And they were famous among sailors as being the home of the "Gooney Bird", better known as the Laysan Albatross

National Wildlife Refuge Sign

During our brief refueling stop, I had time to wander abour the island and snap a few photos. The slides have lasted well through the years and I recently scanned them to document the first bird photo I ever took: The Gooney Bird, Diomedea immutabilis, a youngster, still partially covered in down...

Click on thumbnail to see full-size image.
Naval Base Administration Laysan Albatross
Naval Base AdministrationLaysan Albatross