Albatross Chicks

It is difficult to watch the albatross chicks now. The big healthy ones that have been fed regularly are strong and more and more of them are actually fledging and flying away from the island. When adults do show up with food to regurgitate, as many as 4 or 5 chicks that aren't their own come running up to be fed, all the while uttering their pleading call for food. If it isn't their own parent they usually get beat on or grabbed and shaken by the strange adult. Many of these hungry chicks are too small to survive on their own and even if they are being fed occasionally by their own parents, will probably be abandoned soon. The parents return less and less as the season progresses and the hunger of the chicks is one of the things that drives them to leave the island and fly to sea. I know this is the natural order of things but it is still difficult to watch the small underfed chicks and know they will not survive much longer.