By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

I am pleased to report that the kolea of Our Honolulu left for Alaska on time. The early birds took off by April 18-19, with the majority taking flight April 25-26.

According to Wally and Pat Johnson, champion kolea watchers, the schedule hasn't changed.

"They went off like clockwork," said Johnson, world kolea authority who comes to Hawai'i and goes to Alaska every year to study the birds. "Global warming hasn't seemed to affect their schedule. But some scary things are happening up on the tundra, where they breed.

"The little dwarf willows that usually grow to 2 or 3 inches high because of the short growing season are now sprouting up to a foot in some places. It's been happening gradually over the last decade because of warmer weather. This is bad news for kolea, because they are ground nesters."

Taller growth on the tundra will rob the kolea of their nesting grounds.

On a more happy note, the Johnsons reported they had found an ideal place to band kolea and put radios on them for tracking to Alaska. It's the Veterans Cemetery at Kane'ohe, where about 50 of the birds hang out during the winter.

"They've never been banded, so they're tame," said Pat Johnson. "And they're fatter than kolea on this side of the island."

It's true. The Johnsons catch the birds in nets, weigh them, band them and put radios on some of them. Wally said the birds in the Kane'ohe Veterans Cemetery weigh 190 grams, while those at Punchbowl cemetery and Hickam Air Force Base weigh only 160 grams. Windward kolea must eat better than those on the other side of the mountain.

The birds fly into fine-meshed volleyball nets stretched across poles in the early-morning dark. After they're examined by the Johnsons, they're released.

A sudden storm one morning twisted the poles into pretzels and tore up the nets. Johnson straightened the poles at about 10 p.m. on a water main in the parking lot of the Ilima Hotel. Television cameras monitor the parking lot. A guard turned up and asked, "What are you doing?" He reported the incident to the front desk, where the clerks said, "Oh, they're the crazy Bird People."

The Johnsons have learned several things from the radios they've attached to the birds. Some kolea don't fly straight to their nesting grounds, but stop for a few days in southeastern Alaska before doglegging up to the tundra around Nome.

Southeastern Alaska isn't their nesting area, but it's excellent feeding ground. Maybe they stoke up on food before flying on 700 miles to the northwest. Or maybe the wind blew them off course on the way from Hawai'i.

Johnson said one theory as to why some kolea leave for Alaska later than others is that their breeding grounds may be farther north, where it's colder. They may be waiting for the snow to melt.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.