Midway Atoll is a 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housing and an airstrip. Immediately to the east of Sand Island across the narrow Brooks Channel is Eastern Island, which is uninhabited and no longer has any facilities. Forming a rough, incomplete circle around the two main islands and creating Midway Lagoon is Spit Island, a narrow reef.
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly the group was known to Europeans and Americans as the Sandwich Islands, a name that James Cook chose in honor of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, the then First Lord of the Admiralty. Cook came across the islands by chance when crossing the Pacific Ocean on his Third Voyage in 1778, on board HMS Resolution; he was later killed on the islands on a return visit. The contemporary name of the islands, dating from the 1840s, is derived from the name of the largest island, Hawaiʻi Island.
Kure Atoll or Ocean Island is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean 48 nautical miles west-northwest of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at 28°25′N178°20′W. A coral ring six miles across encloses a lagoon several meters deep. The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is a habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds. A short, unused and unmaintained runway and a portion of one building, both from a former United States Coast Guard LORAN station, are located on the island. Politically, it is part of Hawaii, although separated from the rest of the state by Midway, which is a separate unorganized territory. Green Island, in addition to being the nesting grounds for tens of thousands of seabirds, has recorded several vagrant terrestrial birds, including snow bunting, eyebrowed thrush, brambling, olive-backed pipit, black kite, Steller's sea eagle and Chinese sparrowhawk. It is currently managed as a Wildlife Bird Sanctuary by the State of Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resource–Division of Forestry and Wildlife as one of the co-trustees of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument with support from the Kure Atoll Conservancy.
The Laysan duck, also known as the Laysan teal, is a dabbling duck endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Fossil evidence reveals that Laysan ducks once lived across the entire archipelago, but today survive only on Laysan Island and two atolls. The duck has several physical and behavioral traits linked to the absence of ground-based predators in its habitat. By 1860, the ducks had disappeared from everywhere except Laysan Island. The introduction of European rabbits by guano miners at the end of the 19th century brought the bird to the brink of extinction in 1912, with twelve surviving individuals. Rabbits were eradicated from the island in 1923 and numbers of Laysan ducks began to rise, reaching 500 by the 1950s. In an effort to ensure the long-term future of this duck, 42 birds were translocated to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2002. These thrived in their new surroundings, and another group were later relocated to Kure Atoll.
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or Leeward Hawaiian Islands are a series of islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. Politically, they are all part of Honolulu County in the U.S. state of Hawaii, except Midway Atoll, which is a territory distinct from the State of Hawaii, and grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The United States Census Bureau defines this area, except Midway, as Census Tract 114.98 of Honolulu County. Its total land area is 3.1075 square miles (8.048 km2). All the islands except Nihoa are north of the Tropic of Cancer, making them the only islands in Hawaii that lie outside the tropics.
The Pearl and Hermes Atoll, also known as Pearl and Hermes Reef, is part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a group of small islands and atolls that form the farthest northwest portion of the Hawaiian island chain. The atoll consists of a variable number of flat and sandy islets, typically between five and seven. More were noted in historical sources but have since been lost to erosion and rising sea levels.
Laysan is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, located 808 nautical miles northwest of Honolulu at 25°42′14″N171°44′04″W. It comprises one land mass of 1,016 acres (4.11 km2), about 1 by 1+1⁄2 miles in size. It is an atoll of sorts, although the land completely surrounds a shallow central lake some 2.4 m (7.9 ft) above sea level that has a salinity approximately three times greater than the ocean. Laysan's Hawaiian name, Kauō, means 'egg'.
The Laysan rail or Laysan crake was a flightless bird endemic to the Northwest Hawaiian Island of Laysan. This small island was and still is an important seabird colony, and sustained a number of endemic species, including the rail. It became extinct due to habitat loss by domestic rabbits, and ultimately World War II.
The Laysan albatross is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are home to 99.7% of the population. This small gull-like albatross is the second-most common seabird in the Hawaiian Islands, with an estimated population of 1.18 million birds, and is currently expanding its range to new islands. The Laysan albatross was first described as Diomedea immutabilis by Lionel Walter Rothschild, in 1893, on the basis of a specimen from Laysan Island.
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) is a World Heritage listed U.S. National Monument encompassing 583,000 square miles (1,510,000 km2) of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It was created in June 2006 with 140,000 square miles (360,000 km2) and expanded in August 2016 by moving its border to the limit of the exclusive economic zone, making it one of the world's largest protected areas. It is internationally known for its cultural and natural values as follows:
The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and Mokumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons.
The Bonin petrel or nunulu is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is a small gadfly petrel that is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its secretive habits, remote breeding colonies and limited range have resulted in few studies and many aspects of the species' biology are poorly known.
The TanagerExpedition was a series of five biological surveys of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands conducted in partnership between the Bureau of Biological Survey and the Bishop Museum, with the assistance of the United States Navy. Four expeditions occurred from April to August 1923, and a fifth in July 1924. Led by Lieutenant Commander Samuel Wilder King on the minesweeper USS Tanager (AM-5), and Alexander Wetmore directing the team of scientists, the expedition studied the plant animal life, and geology of the central Pacific islands. Noted members of the team include archaeologist Kenneth Emory and herpetologist Chapman Grant.
Phyllostegia is a genus of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described in 1840. It is native to certain islands in the Pacific .. Phyllostegia glabra var. lanaiensis, became extinct before 2021 and was delisted from the Endangered Species Act based on extinction.
- Phyllostegia ambigua(A.Gray) Hillebr - Hawaii Big Island, Maui
- Phyllostegia bracteataSherff - Maui
- Phyllostegia brevidensA.Gray - Hawaii Big Island, Maui
- Phyllostegia electraC.N.Forbes - Kauai
- Phyllostegia floribundaBenth - Hawaii Big Island
- Phyllostegia glabra (Gaudich.) Benth. - Hawaiian Islands
- Phyllostegia grandiflora(Gaudich.) Benth - Oahu
- Phyllostegia haliakalaeWawra - Maui, Molokai
- Phyllostegia helleriSherff - Wai'alae Valley of Kauai
- †Phyllostegia hillebrandiiH.Mann ex Hillebr - Maui but extinct
- Phyllostegia hirsutaBenth. - Oahu
- Phyllostegia hispidaHillebr. - Molokai
- Phyllostegia kaalaensisH.St.John - Oahu
- Phyllostegia kahiliensisH.St.John - Kauai
- Phyllostegia knudseniiHillebr. - Kauai
- Phyllostegia macrophylla(Gaudich.) Benth. - Hawaii Big Island, Maui
- Phyllostegia manniiSherff - Molokai, Maui
- Phyllostegia micranthaH.St.John - Oahu
- Phyllostegia mollisBenth. - Hawaiian Islands
- Phyllostegia parvifloraBenth. - Hawaiian Islands
- Phyllostegia pilosaH.St.John - Hawaiian Islands
- Phyllostegia racemosaBenth. - Hawaiian Islands
- Phyllostegia renovansW.L.Wagner - Kauai
- †Phyllostegia rockiiSherff - Maui but extinct
- Phyllostegia stachyoidesA.Gray - Hawaiian Islands
- †Phyllostegia tahitensisNadeaud - Tahiti but extinct
- Phyllostegia tongaensisH.St.John - Tonga
- †Phyllostegia variabilisBitter - Midway Islands but extinct
- Phyllostegia velutina(Sherff) H.St.John - Hawaii Big Island
- Phyllostegia vestitaBenth. - Hawaii Big Island
- Phyllostegia waimeaeWawra - Kauai
- Phyllostegia warshaueriH.St.John - Hawaii Big Island
- Phyllostegia wawranaSherff - Kauai
- Phyllostegia × yamaguchiiHosaka & O.Deg. - Oahu (P. glabra × P. hirsuta)
Achyranthes atollensis was a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It was endemic to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of Kure, Midway, Laysan and the Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Its natural habitat was sandy shores. It became extinct due to habitat loss and the introduction of non-native species, and was last seen in 1964. It was a perennial shrub living in dry shrublands on calcareous sand and atolls.
Montipora dilatata, commonly known as the Hawaiian reef coral, is a species of coral in the family Acroporidae.
Eragrostis variabilis is a species of grass known by the common names variable lovegrass, kawelu, emoloa, and kalamalo. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it occurs on all the main islands plus Kure Atoll, Midway Atoll, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Lisianski Island, Laysan, and Nihoa.
The Northwestern Hawaii scrub is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Phyllostegia haliakalae, commonly known as the Haliakala phyllostegia, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It was described by Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee in 1872. The species Latin name derives from the Hawaiian word, "haliakala", which means "happy".
Lindsay Young is an avian conservation biologist who has published over 110 journal articles and technical reports on Pacific Seabirds. She is currently Senior Scientist and Executive Director of the Pacific Rim Conservation, a nonprofit, research-based organization that works to restore native seabird populations and ecosystems. She is also the current chair of the World Seabird Union. Young has also served as treasurer for the Pacific Seabird Group, as chair for the North Pacific Albatross Working Group, and as correspondent for the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.
Phyllostegia hillebrandii, commonly known as Hillebrand's phyllostegia, is an extinct species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It was described by Horace Mann Jr. and William Hillebrand, but wasn't published until years after their deaths in 1888. The species is thought to have gone extinct, although this can't be officially ruled out. It was endemic to the island of Maui, primarily the eastern region, where it was being poached upon by alien invasive species and threatened by deforestation. The last specimens were collected sometime before 1871, and were the final remnants of the species in terms of samples.
