Date: 11/21/25 10:05 am From: Ronda Stark via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Yayyy! Wisdom is back on Midway Atoll
Hi Nagi,
I hope you will consider sending email directly to Friends of Midway Atoll.
They have raised $75,000 for the drone project and they are seeking an
additional $25,000 in funding for the project. The website suggests that if
the human census and the drone census produce similar results that there
will be a more permanent change for how counts are conducted.
The assumption seemed to be that this would be less intrusive for the
albatross and that was why I raised the question.
I remember the Bolsa Chica crash and I believe that was deliberate--
teenagers who thought it was acceptable to disturb the colony?
Thank you,
Ronda
On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 9:01 AM Nagi Aboulenein <nagi.aboulenein...>
wrote:
> Sorry, didn’t include Tweeters in my original reply. Here it is again,
> with Tweeters now included.
>
> Usage of drones would be very worrisome - there was an incident a few
> years ago, where a drone crashed into an Elegant Tern nesting colony at
> Bolsa Chica in southern California, resulting in a total nesting failure
> for the entire colony for that year.
>
> Drones don’t just crash because of stupid operator mistakes - drones can
> also crash due to technical failure, power loss, etc. Results of a drone
> crash on nesting success would worry me a lot.
>
> Thanks!
> —
> Nagi Aboulenein
>
>
> On Friday, Nov 21, 2025 at 08:35, Ronda Stark via Tweeters <
> <tweeters...> wrote:
> Thank you to everyone for taking the time to share their experiences!
>
> On the website, I see they are planning to conduct the usual census and
> they are also raising funds to purchase drones to conduct an aerial census
> and compare results. Can anyone comment on that approach?
>
> Bob, were you part of a scientific study? I thought visitation to the area
> was greatly restricted.
>
> Ronda
>
> On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 12:17 AM Carla Conway <mikiconway...>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ronda,
>> Thank you so much for planning a gift to FOMA, it will be greatly
>> appreciated. FOMA also supports scientific research and conservation by
>> providing funding for projects such as the annual nesting albatross census.
>> They covered the cost of meals for our group when I was a nest census
>> volunteer in 2021-22 and it helped a lot!
>> Smiles,
>> Carla
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM Scott Richardson via Tweeters <
>> <tweeters...> wrote:
>>
>>> I’ve appreciated FOMA’s dedication to both the natural history and
>>> cultural history of the atoll. The umbrella makes a lot of sense for the
>>> place. Their website covers a lot!
>>>
>>> Scott
>>>
>>> On Nov 20, 2025, at 19:05, Ronda Stark via Tweeters <
>>> <tweeters...> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you for posting about Wisdom. I am planning to gift to Friends of
>>> Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. If you happen to know anything about
>>> their work please contact me.
>>>
>>> Ronda
>>>
>>> On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 12:12 PM Ellen Blackstone via Tweeters <
>>> <tweeters...> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wisdom, the Laysan Albatross that is at least 75 years old, is back on
>>>> Midway Atoll!
>>>>
>>>> https://friendsofmidway.org/ >>>>
>>>> Cheers all around!
>>>>
>>>> Ellen Blackstone
>>>> Edmonds WA
>>>> ellenblackstone AT gmail DOT COM
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Tweeters mailing list
>>>> <Tweeters...>
>>>> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Tweeters mailing list
>>> <Tweeters...>
>>> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Tweeters mailing list
>>> <Tweeters...>
>>> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >>>
>> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> <Tweeters...>
> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >
>
