With Mother’s Day still fresh on our minds, The Green Leaf pays homage to Laysan albatross moms, which typically hatch only one egg per year and travel up to 3,000 miles to gather food for their chicks.

Hob Osterlund, founder of the Kauai Albatross Network and author of “Holy Moli: Albatross and Other Ancestors,” says they are the most dedicated of moms.

“She is absolutely, unconditionally committed,” said Osterlund. “There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to feed and keep her chick safe. She commits eight months of her life to that chick.”

So does the Laysan albatross dad. The albatrosses typically mate for a long time after elaborate courtship dances. Both incubate the egg, with the male taking the first shift.

Through wind, rain and sunshine, they incubate the egg for two months to keep it protected from threats, which include feral cats, dogs, mongooses and rats. Both take turns finding food to feed the chick.

“Their devotion is heroic,” said Osterlund.

On Jan. 27, 2014, Osterlund and other bird lovers witnessed the successful hatching of a chick to albatross mother Kaluahine and albatross father Kaluakane.

This rare glimpse was possible due to a live-streaming wildlife camera the Cornell Lab of Ornithology had just installed on a private residence on Kauai’s north shore.

The pair had tried a year ago, but their egg never hatched, according to Osterlund. This time a female chick hatched just as the camera went live. It was named Kaloakulua after the phase of the moon during which it hatched.

“They’re tremendously affectionate,” said Osterlund of the birds. “They preen their babies. They talk to them while still in the egg … and the chick starts talking to them from inside the egg.”

While the chick’s parents went back and forth the next few months foraging for food — sometimes leaving for up to 17 days – Kaloakulua wandered around on her own, exploring.

This takes courage, according to Osterlund, and is perhaps a lesson from Mother Nature about letting go so our offspring learn survival skills on their own.

Still, like helicopter aunties, Osterlund and other albatross lovers watched anxiously as feral cats and one dog threatened, but never harmed, the chick. Once, a plastic syringe with pink fluid came out along with squid beaks in its bolus, the indigestible material chicks regurgitate.

With a 7-foot wingspan, Laysan albatrosses (Phoebastria immutabilis) are considered masterful soarers and can fly great distances through the fiercest storms. Most of the population nests in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but some colonies reside on Kauai and Oahu.

They are currently listed as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to threats from long-line fishing, plastic ocean debris and feral predators.

With all of the attentiveness from her parents, and a bit of luck, Kaloakulua did make it. Five months after she hatched, the fledgling took off from the bluffs of Kauai and is expected to be out at sea for three to four years before returning.

The Mother’s Day honors award goes to a Laysan albatross named Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird to become a mother — at the age of 65. She laid an egg that hatched into a chick for the 40th time at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge late last year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Nina Wu writes about environmental issues. Reach her at 529-4892 or nwu@staradvertiser.com. Read more at thegreenleaf.staradvertiserblogs.com.