| [00:00.41] |
The greatest ocean wanderer, |
| [00:02.67] |
with its two-metre wingspan, |
| [00:05.10] |
is the albatross. |
| [00:06.60] |
To find enough food for its oversized offspring, |
| [00:09.64] |
this black-footed albatross may have travelled |
| [00:11.87] |
a staggering 6,000 miles across the open ocean |
| [00:15.64] |
looking for hot spots of squid and fish. |
| [00:18.66] |
The albatross nest on the tiny Hawaiian islands of French Frigate Shoals. |
| [00:23.28] |
This island may be only half a mile long, |
| [00:26.05] |
but it provides a base for around 300,000 seabirds. |
| [00:30.99] |
With food so hard to come by in the open ocean, |
| [00:34.20] |
newly hatched sooty tern chicks are easy pickings for the larger frigate birds. |
| [00:46.22] |
For hours on end, they survey the nesting grounds, |
| [00:48.77] |
waiting for a chance to strike. |
| [00:51.76] |
A mother tries desperately to protect her helpless chick. |
| [00:56.65] |
But an unguarded chick is desperately vulnerable. |
| [01:00.40] |
It's what the frigate has been waiting for. |
| [01:03.86] |
No wonder the crew of the Essex called them the "man-of-war" birds. |
| [01:08.69] |
For two weeks, |
| [01:09.86] |
the frigate birds keep up their relentless aerial assault |
| [01:12.33] |
until finally the sooty tern chicks are old enough to get away. |
| [01:12.33] |
|
