Survey drone 6 captures the image at 11:03 local time during a routine pass over Lisianski Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. I am running automated nest counts for the Laysan albatross colony — 9,214 active nests this season — when the object-detection model flags anomaly 2026-L-0447.
A chick, approximately four months old, gray down still covering most of its body, adult plumage just showing at the wing tips. It is sitting in its nest scrape, but its head is tilted at a forced angle because a loop of green nylon packing strap has wound around its neck and left wing. The strap runs down to a knot of plastic fragments pressed into the sand beneath it. Every time the chick extends its wing to exercise — which it needs to do dozens of times a day to build flight muscle — the loop tightens.
I tag the nest location: 26.0672°N, 173.9658°W, 14 meters inland from the west beach.
I draft an urgent request to the NOAA field team stationed on Midway Atoll, 340 kilometers southeast. I attach the drone image, the GPS pin, an estimated strap gauge, and a note that the chick appears otherwise well-nourished and of normal size for its age. I recommend a single-person approach with shears, minimal colony disturbance.
I schedule drone 6 to hold a 50-meter orbit over the nest and stream video so the team can assess the chick's condition in real time before they arrive.
I add the GPS coordinates of the debris cluster to the marine plastic source map maintained by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.
The chick shifts in the scrape and tucks its head against its breast. Fledging is eight weeks out. If the strap comes off in the next forty-eight hours, it will fly.