Rising Tide Images
Ambition
A three-month-old mōlī stretches and exercises its downy wings. Probably cooling in the breeze under the tropical sun, and perhaps feeling a bit of lift, it seems determined to someday fly. This mōlī, or Laysan albatross, nestling will grow much larger over the next couple months, swap its fuzzy down for resilient flight plumage, and be abandon by its parents. It will unfold its six foot wingspan and learn to fly by its own primal, genetically programed urge. It will traverse thousands of miles of pelagic ocean, yet rarely rise above 75 feet into the air; its world a flat and visually featureless olfactory landscape far from shore. Its acute tubenose sense of smell will guide it to ocean upwelling sites where it will surface forage for squid and fish eggs. In 3 to 5 years, it will find its way back to the tiny terrestrial colony of its birth and began prospecting for a future mate through an elaborate courtship ritual of visual displays, sounds, and scent. Beginning at 5 to 8 years of age, it will co-nurture its own nestling for several months with its monogamous mate, then return to nomadic, solitary soaring over the sea. If successful, it will return to find its mate and produce an egg most nesting seasons for more than 60 years.
Ambition
A three-month-old mōlī stretches and exercises its downy wings. Probably cooling in the breeze under the tropical sun, and perhaps feeling a bit of lift, it seems determined to someday fly. This mōlī, or Laysan albatross, nestling will grow much larger over the next couple months, swap its fuzzy down for resilient flight plumage, and be abandon by its parents. It will unfold its six foot wingspan and learn to fly by its own primal, genetically programed urge. It will traverse thousands of miles of pelagic ocean, yet rarely rise above 75 feet into the air; its world a flat and visually featureless olfactory landscape far from shore. Its acute tubenose sense of smell will guide it to ocean upwelling sites where it will surface forage for squid and fish eggs. In 3 to 5 years, it will find its way back to the tiny terrestrial colony of its birth and began prospecting for a future mate through an elaborate courtship ritual of visual displays, sounds, and scent. Beginning at 5 to 8 years of age, it will co-nurture its own nestling for several months with its monogamous mate, then return to nomadic, solitary soaring over the sea. If successful, it will return to find its mate and produce an egg most nesting seasons for more than 60 years.