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Wanting To Fly

Though it hasn’t any flight feathers yet, this downy Laysan albatross feels the cooling breeze and perhaps a little lift under its wing. The drab camouflage down is a good insulator for cold nights and sunscreen for searing daylight, but not conducive to laminar airflow. In a month or so, this albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) will be abandoned by its parents, have beautiful brown and white feathers, will learn to fly on its own with its two meter wingspan, and with an urge programmed into its genes set off to glide over thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean.

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Uploaded on May 9, 2020
Taken on May 7, 2020