What's New for Oikonos

2004 Project News

"Solstice Migrations" Far ranging Pacific albatrosses travel to northern waters to spend summer migrating and foraging through vast oceanic habitats: (left to right) Two Laysan (Phoebastria immutabili) , Black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes), and Short-tailed (Phoebastria albatrus) Albatross. Sophie Webb watercolor from her children's book "Looking for Seabirds, Journal of an Alaskan Voyage" (Illustration: Sophie Webb © 2004)

The Rakiura Sooty Shearwater Restoration in New Zealand Public announcement of the inclusion of this project in the Final Restoration Plan created to restore natural resources injured in the 1998 Command Oil Spill has been released. Exploring Albatross Movements - Funding awarded from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary to evalutate the significance of oceanographic habitats and existing protection for post-breeding Black-footed Albatrosses

Updates

New Gallery Exhibit - Penelope Adams, Acrylic on canvas

Learn about the "Endless Summer" birds

Sooty Shearwaters are the "endless summer" birds, migrating between southern hemisphere nesting areas, where they are called Titi, and northern hemisphere feeding grounds in California.

Follow the daily movements of a Black-footed Albatross - Francisco

A small 54 gram satellite transmitter was attached to Francisco's back feathers on July 26th in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of central California. Francisco's movements are updated daily and he/she can be "adopted" through seaturtle dot org.

New Collaboration

* The Signals of Spring program and the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary education program will use data from Albatross tracked in 2004 to develop and launch an integrated program in 2005 to engage youth and teach the value of protecting offshore habitats.

* Albatross, being charismatic and large, can bridge the distance for students who may never visit Cordell Bank. Threats to Black-footed Albatross - plastics, contaminants, and fishing practices - are global issues affecting many species and all oceans.

Sophie Webb's second award winning childern's book has been published

Reviews:
From School Library Journal, Starred

"The 'you-are-there' immediacy of the narrative (the swells of the rough sea are particularly evocative) and the clear and colorful water-color-and-gouache landscapes and drawings of birds form an appealing travelogue that is as exciting as it is informative."

.