It’s another sunny afternoon with blue skies at James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu’s North Shore, where 25 black-footed albatross chicks rest under wooden A-frame shades on a grassy field.

In February, the 3-week-old chicks were relocated from Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge — a 1,300-mile journey — in an effort to ensure their survival from the potential loss of habitat due to rising sea levels around the vulnerable Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Now, several months older and well-fed, they have been testing their wings and are just about ready to fledge, or fly out to sea, some time this month.

Federal officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with nonprofit partner Pacific Rim Conservation and others, have established a “Noah’s Ark” to keep several species of threatened seabirds alive on higher ground on a 16-acre field enclosed by a predator-­proof fence in Kahuku.

“You can’t stop a hurricane, but you can have contingency plans,” said Kate Toniolo, acting superintendent of Papahanaumo­kua­kea. “Any species that are endangered in areas that are at high risk of a large event like a tsunami or hurricane and longer-term issues like sea level rise, you have to be looking at how do you plan out into the future versus right now.”

Creating a refuge on Oahu, she said, is a proactive step toward the survival of these seabird populations.

So far, the efforts have shown promising results.

Initially, the team started with Laysan albatrosses, then brought in black-footed albatrosses, and have since relocated Tristram’s storm- petrels, and most recently, Bonin petrels, from Papahanau­mokuakea to the refuge on Oahu.

A total of 42 Tristram’s storm- petrel chicks that were taken to the refuge last year fledged in May. The newest arrivals, 78 Bonin petrel chicks, made it to the refuge in early May, and are also expected to fledge this month.

More than 95% of Laysan and black-footed albatross populations nest on the low-lying atolls of Papahanaumokuakea, just a few meters above sea level, making them extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, said Eric VanderWerf, director of science at Pacific Rim Conservation.

“Recent storm surges have wiped out thousands of albatross nests with eggs or young chicks in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,” he said. “By thinking proactively and working together to establish more secure colonies on high islands within the historical nesting range of the Laysan albatross, we can ensure a future for these birds.”

The birds lost a longtime nesting site in October when Hurricane Walaka blew over East Island, submerging most of the 11-acre sliver of sand in the Central Pacific. The island had been home for about 2,000 black-footed albatrosses, VanderWerf said.

Black-footed albatross are particularly at risk because they tend to nest along the shoreline, with no protection from coastal vegetation.

The project to establish new colonies of seabirds on Oahu has been in the works for at least five years, VanderWerf said.

A predator-proof fence with stainless-steel mesh, which cost about $300,000, is key to keeping the birds safe. The 6-1/2 foot tall fence extends 6 inches below ground and has a hood on top to keep invasive species such as mongoose, rats and feral cats out.

“So this has been a game changer for seabird conservation,” said Pacific Rim outreach coordinator Leilani Fowlke.

Community groups have helped plant native, low-lying shrubbery to provide shade for the seabirds.

The first residents at the refuge were Laysan albatross chicks hatched from eggs donated by the U.S. Navy from its Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, where nesting adults next to the runway pose a hazard. From 2015 to 2017, 50 chicks from those eggs hatched on Oahu. All of them, except four, fledged from the refuge.

Laysan albatrosses have already been nesting at Kaena Point for more than 25 years, but black-footed albatrosses do not currently nest on Oahu, said VanderWerf.

Using albatross decoys and solar-powered sound systems that played recordings of mating calls, the team attempted to draw in the birds through a technique called “social attraction,” in addition to relocating chicks, and it seems to be working. More than 900 adult visits have occurred at the site.

A pair of wild Laysan albatross adults nested on the refuge for the first time in December 2017, and two couples nested there the following year, VanderWerf said.

The details of these efforts were recently published in “Global Ecology and Conservation.”

Still, changing the birds’ nesting habits will take time, especially given that albatrosses do not start breeding until they are 7 to 9 years old.

The team marked a milestone in March 2018, when one of the original Laysan albatross chicks — V106 — returned to James Campbell as an adult after having flown out to sea in June 2015 and spending three years over the Pacific Ocean.

The team hopes the bird will return, when ready, to nest and breed, in another few years.

Robby Kohley, director of aviculture, watches over the latest cohort of black-footed albatross chicks like a parent, carefully monitoring how much they are fed, how much they weigh, and keeping all feeding tubes and equipment clean.

The chicks are fed a slurry of fish, squid and vitamins. The goal, he said, is to raise fat, healthy chicks until they are ready to fledge after four to five months. At the same time, the team limits human interactions so the birds will survive in the wild without associating people with food.

Seabirds make good candidates for the relocation project, scientists said, because they have strong, natural instincts and do not need to be taught how to fly, forage or mate. Watching them fledge is one of the rewards.

When the birds are ready to fly out to sea, Fowlke said, “it’s like flipping a switch.”