This Week in Nature: The 2nd week in August

What's Happening in Hawaii

during the 2nd week in August:

The first kōlea are arriving in the islands now, completing their flight of 3000 miles or more from their breeding grounds in Siberia and Alaska.

Clocked at speeds up to 70 miles per hour, kōlea make the trip non-stop and theoretically could fly twice as far as they do. Adults come first, leaving young birds to fatten up another month before the long flight to winter quarters. 


Kōlea molt from brown to nearly black before the return in April, but in any season, their plumage is flecked with the gold feathers that earned them the name golden plover.

Photo courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr

Its beauty and behavior have made the kōlea one of the islands' most closely watched birds. In Hawaiian sayings, it appears as a metaphor for independence, wanderlust, mystery, transience, and ingratitude. In legends, it serves as a messenger of the gods.

Plovers were netted for food, but killing them wastefully was not tolerated. A story tells of kōlea pecking to death a man who caught more than he needed.

Kōlea on Oahu leave for their breeding grounds on April 25th, plus or minus only a couple of days! Scientists have discovered that this is one of the most precise internal calendars in the animal kingdom.

Photo courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr

For more about kolea, visit the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy kolea fact sheet. 

Text and illustration taken from "Hawaii: A Calendar of Natural Events"  
published by the Bishop Museum and Kamehameha Schools in 1989

Native Species of the Week - 'Ohai

This beautiful flower belongs to Sesbania tomentosa, or 'Ohai, is a native coastal plant from southwestern Oahu.

Photo: DOFAW

This species appears in several color varieties from yellow to red, and is considered to be a rare plant species in Hawaii.

Photo: DOFAW

You can see 'Ohai along the trail at Kaena Point on Oahu.

Photo: DOFAW

If you visit Kaena Point, make sure you follow the posted instructions and warnings. Staying on the trail helps protect the habitat for these and other rare and special plants!

To learn more about this special plant, visit the Hawaii Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy webpage.


Also, check out the Hawaii Ecosystems At Risk (HEAR) page about Sesbania tomentosa.

Waianae "Sunset on the Beach" event

On Saturday August 8th 2009, DOFAW outreach staff teamed up with the Honolulu Fire Department for the Waianae Sunset on the Beach event. 

Keiki learning about fire safety. 

Kids and adults answered questions about fire safety to earn prizes like temporary tattoo's, frisbees, pencils, stickers and other fun goodies!


The fire department brought a big yellow fire truck and had a fun "fire fighting activity" for kids.

A big Mahalo to the Honolulu Fire Department for teaming up with DOFAW to share fire safety information with the community.

Native Species of the Week - ‘Ōpe‘ape‘a; Hawaiian Hoary Bat

Hawaiian name: ‘Ōpe‘ape‘a

English name: Hawaiian Hoary Bat

Scientific name: Lasiurus cinereus semotus

Photo: DOFAW

The Hawaiian Hoary Bat is Hawaii's only native terrestrial mammal. It is one of only two native mammals in the entire island chain (the Hawaiian monk seal is the other).

It is an endangered species, and is endemic at the subspecies level, meaning the bat that lives here lives nowhere else in the world.

The bat is brown and gray, and has a wingspan of about 1/3 of a meter, or about 1 foot. This bat has a lot in common with other bat species, but since very little is known about this particular mammal, much more research needs to be done.For example, not very much is known about the habitat requirements or population status of the Hawaiian Hoary Bat. 

" ‘Ōpe‘ape‘a feed on a variety of native and non-native night-flying insects, including moths, beetles, crickets, mosquitoes, and termites; and similar to other insectivorous bats, prey is located using echolocation." -From the Hawaii Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy webpage.

To find out more about the ‘Ōpe‘ape‘a; the Hawaiian Hoary Bat, visit the fact sheet on the Hawaii Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy webpage.

This Week in Nature: The 1st week in August

What's Happening in Hawaii

during the 1st week in August:

"Aia a pohā ka leo o ka 'a'o,
kāpule ke momona o ka 'ua'u i ka puapua.

When the 'a'o birds' voices are distinctly heard,
the 'ua'u birds are fat even to the very tails."

The raucous cry of the 'a'o, Newell's Shearwater (Puffinus auricularis newelli), is heard before dawn and after dusk in the late summer and early fall. It is nesting season for both the 'a'o and the 'ua'u, or dark-rumped petrel, seabirds that spend the day foraging at sea for squid and fish.

The clearest indication of their nesting is the cry of the 'a'o, which sounds like a cross between a crow's caw and the braying of a donkey. In the old days, this odd noise was a cue that the breeding colonies were full of plump 'ua'u chicks. Hawaiians hunted and ate both old and young 'ua'u, netting adults as they returned to nests at sunset.

Human and animal predation have endangered both species. 'A'o now breed only on inaccessible ridges of Kaua'i and Hawai'i, while 'ua'u nest mostly on Haleakalā. Thir extinction would crete serious problems for fishermen, who historically have depended on them to locate feeding schools of aku.

For more information about Newell's Shearwater, visit the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy 'a'o webpage.

Also visit the HEAR.org Newell's Shearwater page.

Taken from "Hawaii: A Calendar of Natural Events"
published by the Bishop Museum and Kamehameha Schools in 1989