This is Bird Note.

Millions of seabirds known as Awklets call the Aleutian Island's home.

But this volcanic, bearing sea archipelago can be a treacherous landscape.

In August 2008, Kasa Tochi Island erupted in the middle of Awklett breeding season,

burying tens of thousands of chicks in hot ash.

At first, the Awklett's future on the island appeared bleak.

But in just a few years, the birds had returned in force.

Thousands nested within the innumerable chambers left behind by sea cooled lava.

Volcanic islands are perhaps the only places that provide the complex of cozy cavities

that can host copious amounts of fist-sized Awklets.

And the largest threats to these Awklets' roots isn't actually geological, but gastrointestinal.

Over the years, hoop from millions of breeding seabirds acts as fertilizers for thick mats of vegetation

that slowly cover the volcanic terrain choking off access to their nest sites.

Eventually, the colonies abandoned the island entirely to seek out less green pastures.

Today, Kasa Tochi Island is as popular and Awklett breeding ground as ever.

And it will likely stay that way until transformed again by countless tons of poop or lava or both.

For Bird Note, I'm Ariana Rommel.