First Kolea

[scrivener]

I saw my first kolea of the season this morning--he was hanging out on the front lawn of the Valkenburgh fire station, near Moanalua Shopping Center and Holy Family School. Saw two more later the same morning.

Where'd you see your first kolea this fall?

[Glen Miyashiro]

Wow, that was fast! I guess the Alaskan summer must be over already. I haven't seen any kolea this season yet.

[craigwatanabe]

what is a Kolea? I've seen some okoles, some sweet some pretty raunchy, but I'm not sure about Kolea's. :confused:

[scrivener]

Kolea is the Hawaiian name for the Pacific Golden Plover (which is a very cool name, if you ask me). The picture I'm attaching is borrowed and modified from http://www.hawaii.edu/environment/birds/KoleaMaleBreedingPlumage.jpg.

You can get acquainted with them at http://www.hawaiinaturecenter.org/kolea/ .

I love these birds. The stilt-like legs, the oddly shaped body, the territorial-ness, and the solitude all appeal to me for some reason. And then the migration! "Well, I guess it's time to go to Alaska," I imagine them thinking. Such a strange, strange thing, for a bird to fly from Alaska to Hawaii and back every year.

[helen]

Seen one today about a block from Queen Street.

[craigwatanabe]

Kolea is the Hawaiian name for the Pacific Golden Plover (which is a very cool name, if you ask me). The picture I'm attaching is borrowed and modified from http://www.hawaii.edu/environment/birds/KoleaMaleBreedingPlumage.jpg.

You can get acquainted with them at http://www.hawaiinaturecenter.org/kolea/ .

I love these birds. The stilt-like legs, the oddly shaped body, the territorial-ness, and the solitude all appeal to me for some reason. And then the migration! "Well, I guess it's time to go to Alaska," I imagine them thinking. Such a strange, strange thing, for a bird to fly from Alaska to Hawaii and back every year.

That's not strange at all! My parents fly from Hawaii to Las Vegas TWICE every year! AND BOY ARE THEIR ARMS TIRED! :D

[mel]

My parents fly from Hawaii to Las Vegas TWICE every year! AND BOY ARE THEIR ARMS TIRED! :D


Ha ha ha ha! Too funny. :D :D

Now I have to ask, is it from the one arm bandit or just flapping their arms over 2,000 + miles of water? :)

[craigwatanabe]

Silly you Mel what do you think! Of course it's from the flapping! :eek:

[Glen Miyashiro]

Ho, get plenty now on the Honolulu Hale lawn. I counted at least six while I was just passing through there. The plumage is still dull, though. When do they get the spiffy black-white-and-golden racing stripes?

[LikaNui]

The plumage is still dull, though. When do they get the spiffy black-white-and-golden racing stripes?

As I recall, the plumage changes just before they're ready to fly back to Alaska.
And apparently the kolea are territorial. There's one here on our property in Kaneohe that's missing its right foot; that same bird has been here every year for over 5 years now.

[Glen Miyashiro]

The kōlea I saw the other day was sleek and dramatic in its spring plumage; it's almost time for them to leave. Time to say aloha and a hui ho kākou to our part-time residents until the end of summer. The lawns of Hawai'i will be a little drabber without them.

[scrivener]

Yeah. The guys I see on my way to school every day are nearly ready, too. Some are completely dressed in their new plumage, while some have only recently begun to make the change. I'll miss them, too.

[LikaNui]

Same here. Fun seeing them in their 'tuxedo' plumage. And they're looking very well fed... stocking up for that looooong flight.
We have one kolea that's been coming to our property every year for six years. Easily identifiable due to missing its right foot. And of course I named him Chester. :p
He's become very used to me and lets me get within just a foot or two before he gets nervous. I'll be looking forward to his return...

[Albert]

The ones at UH-Manoa are still hanging around, usually gone by now. Maybe they've finally wised up and decided it's not worth flying all the way to Alaska or Siberia for the summer?

[scrivener]

Maybe they've finally wised up and decided it's not worth flying all the way to Alaska or Siberia for the summer?

No way. They go there to mate, and how could that not be worth it? Heck, I'd probably fly there, too, if that's what it meant!

[kimo55]

No way. They go there to mate, and how could that not be worth it? Heck, I'd probably fly there, too, if that's what it meant!

I can see ya now; "c'mon babe. My arms may be tired but my..."

[Surfingfarmboy]

Hawaiian Airlines had a great article on the kolea in their inflight magazine last December 2004. It's probably tough to find an issue of it here in April 2005, but if you can locate one, the article about the kolea in it was extremely interesting.

I have also read about the kolea that the day they leave Hawaii for Alaska, usually April 26th, is the most precisely held scheduled migration departure date in the animal kingdom. Anybody know anything about that?

[craigwatanabe]

Auwe!!! I nevah wen know Kolea's could book flights on Hawaiian Airlines...das some smart birdies! :D

[pzarquon]

Plover lovers (http://starbulletin.com/2005/04/25/features/story4.html)
Nadine Kam, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Monday, April 25, 2005
When I spoke to Annette Kaohelaulii of the Sierra Club to inquire about the bird, she was suspicious. "Aren't you the one who writes about food?" "Yes, I am, but I have many other interests." "Oh." "Why?" "You know they used to eat kolea in the past," she said. "I wouldn't want that to come back." I didn't know. But then, there's a lot that humankind doesn't know about the kolea...

[scrivener]

I should have posted this last week, but there's one more Kolea lecture, for those of you who are interested in hearing about the work of Wally Johnson and his crew, who monitor kolea every year. I attended last Monday's lecture at St. John's Hall at UH-Manoa. Here's part of the blurb as it appeared in the Star-Bulletin.

Wally Johnson, of Montana State University, brings a team of
researchers each April to tag kolea in Hawaii with temporary radio
transmitters that track the birds after they migrate to Alaska for the
summer.

Johnson's talks will be:
April 18 (monday) 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. @ UH-Manoa
April 22 (friday) 7 to 8 pm at Waimea Falls Park
April 26 (tuesday) 7 to 8:30 pm at Windward CC

I highly recommend it, if you can make it out to WCC. The slides alone are worth the trip, and the info is just fascinating. Perhaps later I'll post a few of the interesting facts I picked up. I took notes, of course. I'm a teacher.

[Glen Miyashiro]

And now they're leaving (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/27/ln/ln55pbob.html) for the summer. Aloha!

[helen]

Saw one walking around the main walkway at Honolulu Community College during lunch today. I guess it's not ready to leave yet.

Of course, the $64 question is, how do they find their way to Alaska without a compass or radar?
Flying to Alaska should be the easy part, the land mass is big enough so it would be easy enough to spot, it's flying the other way around is the real mystery, the Hawaiian Island chain are specks compared to Alaska.

[cezanne]

Yeah I saw one yesterday... Kahaluu. Apparently, someone didn't let him know. :)

Does anyone remember a few years back that there was a Perigrine (sp?) falcon cruising the highrises in the Aiea/Pearlridge area? Apparently, the Golden Plover is like a loco moco to these falcons. Residents reported seeing this bird harvesting GPs right out of the air.

[scrivener]

I saw my first kolea of the season this morning--he was hanging out on the front lawn of the Valkenburgh fire station, near Moanalua Shopping Center and Holy Family School. Saw two more later the same morning.
This morning, I saw the same first kolea! He was right there on the lawn in front of the fire station. He didn't seem as happy to see me as I was to see him. :(

Then, a few minutes later, I saw two more but I can't say if they were the same two more as last year. Last year it was August 18 that I saw them; this year, it's August 10. It's nice to have them home.

[Miulang]

I think the Kolea (http://www.hanahou.com/fon.html) came back to Hawai'i early this year for a reason:

"Fossil evidence suggests that the kolea have been flying between Hawaii and Alaska for at least 120,000 years, and their appearance in the oral traditions of pre-contact Polynesian societies has led to speculation that some Pacific islands, perhaps even the Hawaiian Islands themselves, were discovered by Polynesians following the migrating birds. O ka hua o ke kolea aia i Kahiki goes an old Hawaiian saying: The egg of the kolea is laid in a foreign land. Among native Hawaiians both ancient and modern, the kolea is a protector spirit, or aumakua, and the birds’ feathers were once used to make cloaks and kahili for the alii. Kolea are woven through Hawaiian stories, chants and hula; in one myth, the kolea is an incarnation of Koleamoku, a god of healing and a message-bearer to the alii. Some of the mythology persists today as folk belief: If a kolea circles your home while calling, you can expect a death in the family. If one flies across your lawn, you will have a visitor.

To many in the Islands, the kolea symbolize a deep connection to the land and the traditions of those who first settled it. The migration of the kolea represents the unbroken continuity of the world’s ancient rhythms. "It’s easy to take for granted how incredibly well the universe is put together, but kolea remind us of how amazing the natural world is and why we need to take care of it," says Annette Kaohelaulii, amateur birdwatcher and president of the Hawaii Ecotourism Association. Kaohelaulii takes small groups of birders to Alaska to observe kolea. "The Alaskan cultures see in the kolea a deep connection with the Earth," she says. "The same is true for Hawaiians. It’s a very old wisdom."

[helen]

Fossil evidence suggests that the kolea have been flying between Hawaii and Alaska for at least 120,000 years, and their appearance in the oral traditions of pre-contact Polynesian societies has led to speculation that some Pacific islands, perhaps even the Hawaiian Islands themselves, were discovered by Polynesians following the migrating birds.
Wouldn't the pre-contact Polynesians be sailing from south to north while the kolea be flying north to south?

[scrivener]

Wouldn't the pre-contact Polynesians be sailing from south to north while the kolea be flying north to south?
Yes, but Hawaii is not the only place in the Pacific where Kolea live. They are scattered all over the mid- and south-Pacific, including in New Zealand and Australia. So it's quite possible that Polynesians saw the birds flying north, disappearing for the summer months and the reappearing in August, and perhaps they figured there must be somewhere worth visiting, up north.

I have some very interesting notes about the migration, from that lecture last spring. I'll dig them up by the end of the week and share them.

[Miulang]

The reason why the early return of the kolea may be significant to the kanaka maoli is because in Hawaiian mythology, Koleamoku (http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00056/gods.html) is the patron of the kahunas and is thought to bring messages of healing. The kanaka maoli are very spiritual people, and the arrival of the kolea may be timed to the current turmoil afflicting KSBE, just as the schooling swarms of aweoweo were supposed to presage turmoil or times of change.

Miulang

[lurkah]

The kanaka maoli are very spiritual people, and the arrival of the kolea may be timed to the current turmoil afflicting KSBE, just as the schooling swarms of aweoweo were supposed to presage turmoil or times of change.
Anyone remember anything of major significance that might have happened two years ago (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Aug/30/ln/ln06a.html)?

[Miulang]

Anyone remember anything of major significance that might have happened two years ago (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Aug/30/ln/ln06a.html)?

I searched through the Hawaii news annals for the year 2003, and around the time of the aweoweo swarming, the first KSBE suit (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hawaii-nation/message/520) had just been filed in June, 2003:

"...The Kamehameha Schools' renewed Hawaiians-only
admission policy is being challenged as a civil
rights violation under a lawsuit filed yesterday
in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of an unidentified
non-Hawaiian student says federal civil rights
laws prohibit private schools from denying
admission on the basis of race.

"They bring this action anonymously on the basis
of their reasonable fears of retaliation by
(Kamehameha Schools) students, their parents and
members of the public for challenging (Kamehameha
Schools') preference for applicants of Hawaiian
ancestry," the lawsuit reads..."

Could the aweoweo have been the warning sign of trouble and the kolea a sign that everything would be made pono for KSBE? How much more coincidental can you get?

Miulang

[LikaNui]

First one returned to our property here on the windward side this morning. Hooray!

[lavagal]

Wow! Already? Seems like it was just a few months ago when the last one packed up and left over at Oceanic Institute.

[scrivener]

Wow! Already? Seems like it was just a few months ago when the last one packed up and left over at Oceanic Institute.
Yeah. Their mating and hatching season is from about May to about August. They only stick around long enough for the young to be mature enough to make the flight, then they take off and leave the young to figure it out for themselves.

[Miulang]

The kolea (http://www.hawaiinaturecenter.org/kolea/cultures.html), as celebrated in olelo, mele and hula.

Miulang

[Fondoo2]

just looked up Kolea,very pretty bird

[Glen Miyashiro]

I noticed a kolea in mating plumage for the first time this season. When do they start leaving?

[LikaNui]

If you mean the "tuxedo" coloring, I've seen it on our kolea here for about three weeks now.
And while I thought that kolea always returned to the same places here, it seems there are exceptions. We had a one-legged kolea (which I named "Chester" :p ) who came back to our property for several years, then he went missing last year and I figured a predator had caught him or something. Until two weekends ago, when I was at Windward Mall (about a mile from my place) and saw Chester there. Glad to see he's alive and well.
He was close to the Leonard's Bakery truck, so that might explain his change of hangout.
:p

[Miulang]

We had a one-legged kolea (which I named "Chester" :p ) who came back to our property for several years, then he went missing last year and I figured a predator had caught him or something. Until two weekends ago, when I was at Windward Mall (about a mile from my place) and saw Chester there. Glad to see he's alive and well.
He was close to the Leonard's Bakery truck, so that might explain his change of hangout.
:p
Maybe the kolea you saw at Windward Mall this year was Chester's long lost cousin "Fester"! :D I'm sure that there must be more than one one-legged kolea hopping around. ;)

Miulang

[LikaNui]

Maybe the kolea you saw at Windward Mall this year was Chester's long lost cousin "Fester"! I'm sure that there must be more than one one-legged kolea hopping around. Oh, I'm 100% sure it was Chester. He had minor damage to one wing and so did the kolea last week. It was him, all right.

[scrivener]

They usually leave right at the beginning of May. There's a one-legged kolea near my school, too.

Most of the koleas I see every day have moulted; a few still have their winter plumage. By the way, you can tell the males from the females when they're in their tuxedos. That white stripe that separates the black front from the speckled brown back is very clearly defined on the male; on the female, it sorta fades away at the breast and is sorta difficult to make out near the belly.

[Surfingfarmboy]

I remember reading this article, from the in-flight Hawaiian Airlines magazine while on a Honolulu-Hilo journey in December 2004.

Hana Hou Magazine article about the kolea. (http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=120&MagazineID=6&Page=1)

I had remembered that the article made reference to the dates of April 25 and 26 ( April 26 being yesterday ) as ones of importance to the migration of the kolea to Alaska. Whatever date most of them choose to leave, I imagine that the great migration has occured or is just about to. I wish them all a safe trip over and hope they all make it back to Hawai'i in August!

[LikaNui]

The kolea here were all looking very well fed and ready on Monday, and I haven't seen them since then. Bon voyage, my fine feathered friends.

[Linkmeister]

Dunno how I missed this thread, but we had one or two frequenting our back yard for quite a while this spring. Here's one (http://www.linkmeister.com/blog/archives/001805.html) I managed to photograph.

[pzarquon]

Cool capture. Having photographed a couple of kolea myself, I know they're jittery little things that don't much care for paparazzi.

Here's a column by Bob Krauss (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060426/COLUMNISTS01/604260338/1119/NEWS) in the Advertiser on the inevitable departure of the kolea.Lots of people ask where kolea congregate to take off for Alaska. An e-mail from Marion describes three departures. Each time, the kolea massed in groups of 30 to 50 birds before taking off together. The departures took place on April 22, 1993, at Kualoa, on April 12, 1997, at a public school in Waimanalo, and on April 26, 1995, at Punchbowl.Interesting, as I don't think I've ever seen even a remotely large group of these birds. A handful, sure, but 50? Must be quite a sight.

[Linkmeister]

Thanks, Zarq. Here's another one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/56759872@N00/89966923/) with a better view of its legs, but poorly cropped.

[scrivener]

First kolea!

I actually went looking around my neighborhood Sunday, hoping to see my Alaskan friends, but it wasn't until Monday at the Fort Shafter golf course (I was at a function) that I saw my first, then my second. My usual first kolea, on the front lawn of the Mokulele Fire Station, still hasn't arrived, but this morning I saw one of his buddies in the nearby baseball field.

A colleague said: I love these birds. When they show up, you know the school year's about to begin, and when they leave, the school year's about to end. No wonder I feel such kinship with these birds!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Already? Wow, where did the summer go?

A colleague said: I love these birds. When they show up, you know the school year's about to begin, and when they leave, the school year's about to end. No wonder I feel such kinship with these birds!And are they dressed in their new duds yet?

[scrivener]

Still in their tuxedos. Just like me.

[LikaNui]

Here's a column by Bob Krauss (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060426/COLUMNISTS01/604260338/1119/NEWS) in the Advertiser on the inevitable departure of the kolea. Resurrecting this topic, cuz all our kolea are switching to their 'tuxedos' really fast these days. Gonna be a shame to see 'em leave soon...

:(

[Surfingfarmboy]

It's always kind of a sad day when the migratory birds start leaving this area (RI) en masse. While some birds do winter over, (like a few robins), the majority of the birds who can migrate to warmer weather do.

I was fortunate to see many migratory birds while on my recent two month winter farming tour in the Caribbean, that is, the birds who had migrated from the mainland US for the winter...it's almost, in a way, kind of like "cheating"..to be able to see the birds one normally wouldn't see during the winter on the mainland US, in their winter homes. Sort of like getting up very early on a winter morning to view the evening Springtime constellations which start appearing in the eastern horizon.

In the same light as above, I've always thought it would be neat to see the kolea in their Alaska summer breeding grounds...has anyone here in HT ever made the journey to Alaska and seen kolea on "the other side"?

[scrivener]

First Kolea!

On the lawn in front of the main building at the Kaneohe campus of HPU. He was really scrawny-looking, and I'm pretty sure he got in just in the last sixteen hours or so, because I've been looking for the birds who were here at the beginning of summer. He wasn't there yesterday.

[LikaNui]

Saw our first one here this morning. Chatty little bird, too, making lots of calls.
Chat on, Kolea. I'm just glad you're back!

:)

[Kimo]

We have a kolea in our yard every year - can't be sure it's the same one, of course - but one of the birds stops by regularly to feed on whater she can find in our "lawn."

Sighted the bird yesterday Aug 10 for the first time - one of the subtle indications that the seasons DO change in Hawaii. Seems a couple of weeks early this year...maybe it's colder than usual in Alaska?

[LikaNui]

I saw our first one of the season here last Friday morning!

[scrivener]

Darn it! I have yet to spot any of mine. Kimo, chances are excellent that it is the same bird, as they like to come back to the same spot from year to year.

We also have a rather long-running "first kolea" thread here (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=2106).

[Kimo]

...maybe mel should xfr and we can revive it for 08

[scrivener]

Maybe, but Mel's not the moderator of this section: Helen is. :)

[mel]

The only thing I can do is haul out my big lens and look for a bird to shoot!

[kani-lehua]

i was going to post in the, "best part of today" thread about our first sighting this morning of our resident kolea.

[Leo Lakio]

The only thing I can do is haul out my big lens and look for a bird to shoot!...and post the result here, please!

[Honoruru]

I saw one last week Monday morning at Washington Intermediate (one of two that make this territory their home). That would be December 4. That's pretty early. And this one (a female) was very skinny. I also saw another one at Ala Moana park yesterday during my morning run ... but only one. Most of them have yet to return.

[kani-lehua]

i was going to post in the, "best part of today" thread about our first sighting this morning of our resident kolea.

some of you have named your koleas. mine's a girl. i'll have to come up with a cute name.

[Honoruru]

That would be December 4. That's pretty early.

Ooops! I meant August 4. That would have made it very, very late. (Why was I thinking December?)

[leashlaws]

Well I am still waiting! We have lots and lots of them around here and none yet. Maybe today when I'm out on the morning routine walk with Manele & Koele I'll finally spot at least one!
Keeping my fingers crossed!