The population of nesting albatrosses on Midway Atoll this season is the highest since federal officials began counting them 14 years ago — 511,612 nests, which at two birds each, works out to more than a million birds.

Counting unmated birds, the total number of albatrosses at Midway approaches 1.5 million.

The nests at the 1,540-acre Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge were counted by teams of volunteers during three weeks in December 2005 and this month. Laysan and black-footed albatrosses also nest on other islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but Midway is the world's largest combined nesting site for the two species.

"We are particularly pleased to see an increase in the number of black-footed albatrosses. This marks the fifth year of increased numbers of black-footed albatross nests on Midway after fairly steep declines in the 1990s," said refuge biologist John Klavitter.

Albatrosses arrive late in the year to nest, and most pairs produce a single egg. The first of those eggs started hatching this month, and most eggs should be hatched by the end of the month.

Both Laysan and black-footed albatrosses are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as species at risk.

The endangered short-tailed albatross, also known as the golden gooney for the yellow on its head and neck, occasionally occurs in the area, and this year there is one reported at Midway. There are fewer than 1,000 short-tailed albatrosses worldwide, and they primarily nest on Japan's Torishima island.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.