Our Honolulu
Last kolea, maybe, left Friday
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer
Maybe I saw the last kolea take off for Alaska this season. He — or she — launched from Ala Wai Park at 8:15 a.m. Friday giving that shrill, distinctive "keeeek" in farewell.
It flew low over the canal, circled among the high-rises of Waikiki and disappeared.
I counted at least three kolea — Pacific golden plover — still hanging out in the park on Thursday. Friday, after 8:15 a.m., there were none.
The little guy — or gal — had an overnight flight of about 2,000 nonstop miles ahead of it, all in the interest of romance. Alaska is where kolea girl meets kolea boy. In Hawai'i, they stake out their own territory like couples after a divorce.
Wally Johnson, an authority on Pacific golden plover, said the last departure will fly to Alaska at about 18,000 feet. It's been fueling up, mostly during the past 45 days, and will use up about half of its weight before landing.
"They probably find the wind currents," said Johnson. "Plover may be the fastest flyer of the shore birds. They're probably capable of a sustained 60 miles an hour."
Watching the last kolea leave from Ala Wai Park may not rate with waving goodbye to the space shuttle at Cape Canaveral, but it's a news event nevertheless because not many people have done it.
State wildlife biologist Ron Walker is one of the few who has witnessed a full-fledged kolea migration. He said he was out by Ke'ehi Lagoon when he saw a huge flock take off, circle higher and higher, than head north.
Johnson is from Montana. He's a college professor who started studying kolea with his wife in 1979.
The reason the kolea gets so much attention is because it's the one ancient native bird you can study just by looking out the window during the winter if you have a big lawn.
Kolea bones have been excavated in 'Ewa along with those of long-extinct flightless birds. The old Hawaiians knew that kolea fly north to breed. The first reports of kolea by Europeans came from naturalists aboard Captain Cook's ship.
Johnson is full of kolea lore. He said he has been trying to get the groundskeepers at Punchbowl cemetery to use less insecticide on the lawn to protect kolea.
The groundskeepers got the message when they discovered that kolea can eat 90 percent of the insects all by themselves.
They learn fast. Only the young ones get killed by airplanes. Nobody knows how they navigate to Alaska.
This came out during a symposium for schoolteachers at the Hawai'i Maritime Center. One other fascinating fact: Everybody used to think that Pacific plover and American plover are the same.
They are different species that behave differently. American continental plover are found only in wild, wide-open spaces. Island plover have adapted to back yards and golf courses, where the living is good in confined spaces. That's why the plover population in Hawai'i may be on the increase. Smart buggahs.
