This is Bird Note.

Millions of seabirds known as oklitz call the Aleutian Islands home.

But this volcanic, Bering Sea archipelago, can be a treacherous landscape.

In August 2008,

Kasatochi Island erupted in the middle of Ocklet breeding season,

burying tens of thousands of chicks in hot ash.

At first, the Ocklets' future on the island appeared bleak.

But in just a few years, the birdscklets' 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 ocklets.

And the largest threats to these oclets ruse isn't actually geological, but gastrointestinal.

Over the years, poop 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, Kasatochi Island is as popular

and ocklet breeding ground as ever.

And it will likely stay that way

until transformed again by countless

tons of poop or lava

...