By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Kolea watchers of Our Honolulu, pay attention. Kolea guru Wally Johnson has alerted me to a new development — the possibility that mynas may be horning in on the kolea meal ticket.

He believes the kolea count at Punchbowl National Cemetery has gone down in the last decade or so from about 80 to 60, while there seem to be more myna birds than ever.

However, Annette Kaohelaulii of Kane'ohe, a world champion kolea watcher, thinks the kolea population is increasing at Hawai'i Memorial Park Cemetery.

Why would kolea be losing out to myna birds in one place and not in other? Johnson believes one reason may be myna birds like to roost in trees. Kolea don't.

Shade trees are scattered around Punchbowl Cemetery. This may tip the scales in favor of mynas. Hawai'i Memorial Park is mostly lawn, giving kolea the edge. Could we be witnessing a contest to see which birds are best adapted to urbanization?

What do you think? Are there more myna birds and fewer kolea where you live? Or the other way around? One way to tell whether they are competing for food is if you see three or four mynas push a kolea away. Or if you see a kolea fight back and chase a myna out of its territory.

Johnson is here from Montana to check up on kolea he banded in past years. He put radios on 15 birds flying to Alaska last year, but only one signal was detected. However, 14 of the 15 birds came back to Punchbowl, including Gertrude, the pet of security guard Lenny Penn.

She was so thin that Penn didn't recognize her. But Johnson did. He said all 13 birds he tagged at Hickam Air Force Base are back. So kolea really do come to the place they occupied the year before.

I asked Johnson if it's better not to feed kolea. "I don't think there's anything wrong with feeding them if it gives you pleasure," he said. "But ... it should be a high-protein diet. Lenny feeds Gertrude scrambled eggs. Canned dog food would be all right. Bread is not."

Readers still seem confused about when kolea fly to Alaska and come back. Johnson said they arrive from Alaska from about mid-August to the first week in September. Mom leaves first, while Dad stays with the kids a while longer.

Mom lays her eggs right on the tundra in Alaska, about four in number. The eggs hatch the first week in June and the babies fly at 1 month. Mom and Dad are already gone when the youngsters start their trip to Hawai'i in October. How a 4-month-old kolea can fly nonstop more than 2,000 miles and find Hawai'i is a mystery.

They return to Alaska from the first week in April to the first week in May.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.