Posted on: Sunday, April 24, 2005

OUR HONOLULU

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Hawai'i's kolea will leave any day now for Alaska. The exodus will continue until about the end of the month. So keep an eye on your own kolea to see if the bird leaves earlier or later than last year. Meanwhile, here's the latest kolea news:

I am sorry to report that Gertrude, the heartthrob of Punchbowl Crater, will not be among the snow birds. After a love affair of four years with Lennie Penn, a guard at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, she failed to return from Alaska last August. But a new star is born. Penn reports that Tom, a handsome male, comes around for handouts.

Then there is Little Hilton, a plucky kolea who was observed behind the Hilton Hawaiian Village three years ago with a dart in her. A cruel human had used her for target practice. The grounds-keepers at the hotel called kolea guru Dr. Wally Johnson, who sped to the scene.

To get out the dart, Johnson first had to talk Little Hilton into surgery. Johnson baited a bird trap with mealy worms. Little Hilton's eyes gleamed at the prospect of a free meal. She ran into the trap and it snapped shut. Johnson removed the dart. Fortunately, Little Hilton survived the operation.

She flew to Alaska the following April and came back. Then made another round trip and is ready to go again. Here's how smart she is. Johnson decided to put a radio on her, so he baited the trap for a second try. Little Hilton refused to go near it, mealy worms or no mealy worms. Once was enough.

Johnson and his wife, Pat, come to the Pacific every year from the University of Montana to research kolea, also known as Pacific golden plovers. He's learning a lot of interesting stuff. Just back from Saipan, he reports that kolea on that island are skinny and underfed. They weigh 118 grams compared with the 140-150 grams that kolea weigh in Hawai'i.

As skinny as Saipan kolea are, they can't fly very far. So do they go to Alaska for the winter? If they make it to Alaska, do they island-hop by way of Japan and the islands north of there? Or do they spend the winter in eastern Mongolia?

Scientists have found 50,000 kolea there. Johnson said he'd like to know if some from Hawai'i end up in Mongolia. He's been putting radio transmitters on kolea in Hawai'i for several years. The radios would identify them in Mongolia if there were receivers to hear signals.

More and more Hawai'i kolea are turning up in Alaska, Johnson said. He radio-tagged 13 birds at Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery on the windward side last year. Six showed up in Alaska. Johnson also tagged another seven at the Punchbowl cemetery, but none of those reported in.

Among the Hawai'i birds reported near Nome, Alaska, was Pohainani, sponsored by the retirement home of the same name. The kolea has wintered at the cemetery. A bus takes the retirees to see their kolea. A Hawai'i bird named Wailani turned up at Kotzebue, Alaska, and one named Pomaikai reported in by radio from Port Heiden.