Posted on: Sunday, March 20, 2005

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

You should be especially kind to your kolea about now because in about a month it will be taking off for Alaska and you may never see it again. Remember, it has to fly 4,000 miles roundtrip between Alaska and Hawai'i without a parachute in order to return next August.

The lady kolea are getting brown speckles on their backs and the gentlemen are trying on their black-and-white tuxedos.

Last year, golden plover expert Phil Bruner over in La'ie said kolea have been flying to Alaska for 125,000 years, so this year will make it 125,001 years. Here's something you didn't know about kolea: Bruner said it could well be that this bird brought the 'ohelo berry bush from Alaska.

Think of a kolea snacking on an 'ohelo-like plant in Alaska before taking off for Hawai'i. After a 48-hour flight nonstop, anybody would have to go to the bathroom. Out comes an 'ohelo berry bush seed with natural fertilizer attached. Presto, a new species of plant for Hawai'i.

Kolea really pig out in Alaska, which is why they fly there to have babies. Spring in Alaska is when insects swarm on the tundra. This is humbug for humans but good for kolea because the babies have to eat enough insects in four months to grow up and fly 2,000 miles to Hawai'i.

Bruner said parents seldom fly back to Alaska together. The male tends to return to the same area, but the same female seldom mates with him. It may be that females are choosy because there aren't as many of them as males. Bruner said the demands on females of laying eggs may make for higher mortality.

If you don't have a kolea, Bruner said you might consider adopting a ruddy turnstone. This is a kolea-like bird that also migrates to and from Alaska every year. The birds are called turnstones because they turn over stones to find insects. The male has a white breast and a ruddy back.

They don't fight over territory like kolea, but usually they come back to the same place every year. The trouble with ruddy turnstones, as far as I'm concerned, is that I've only seen one in my whole life. But Bruner said they hang out on Waikiki Beach. Maybe you'll have better luck than me.

Before we change the subject, I'd like to ask your help. I saw a bunch of myna birds behaving in a weird manner and I can't explain it. Myna birds are crazy, of course, but this was a new wrinkle in nonconformity. There were six or seven on a lawn. They took turns flying up about six feet, then fluttering down again. This went on for several minutes.

It looked like some kind of game. Or a ballet.

As I walked on, I ran into a swam of little gnats flying at head height. So maybe the mynas were flying up to catch insects in midair. Only a myna would catch bugs in such a dumb manner. But it looked like they were having fun.