We were walking down on corridor Long, having left the corridor in the pasture and gotten into the forest points. The forest points are always the most difficult since you no longer have the obvious gulch or planted corridor to follow when in doubt. And the forest is wonderfully messy with sprawling logs, dense patches of ohelo bushes laden with red berries asking to be picked. The GPS often jumps around, unsure of itself under the tall canopy. So our paths to the two forest points meander. Annie was leading and she took a turn down into a little nook where she flushed a Pueo out from underfoot. The silent bird spread its striped wings and glided across an open patch in the forest.
"Pueo!" I whispered loudly, frantically trying to unhook my binocular strap from where it was hooked on my backpack buckle. I got the optics up to my eyes and studied the perfection in the Pueo's movement.
"What was that?" Annie asked.
"Pueo, the Hawaiian Short-eared Owl," I clarified.
"It was so silent!" she observed.
I agreed, "and think about how terribly loud those Erckel's Francolins and Turkeys are when they take wing. This guy was completely silent." I was still awed by our sighting. How were owls ever omens of bad luck? Maybe people find their noiseless mystery unnerving. But to me, owls are always a mesmerizing blessing.
I paused to write our sighting down on my point count notebook, then we continued hacking out way through the dense underbrush and wading through the waist-high seed-infested golden grass. We left a wake in the meadow and Pueo watched our labored progress from the darkness of an afternoon shadow.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hakalau Forest
I am living at the U. of Hawaii field station at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge for ten days at a time this summer. On my weekends I head back over to Volcano where I stay at my dad's house. There are two interns with me: Anh Nguyet and Annie, both very nice and capable people, undergrads at Stanford. This is their first field experience, so they are still learning GPS and compass use, and how to hike around the forest without a trail (a real skill! I tell them).
This morning I woke up at 4:40, ate a breakfast of almond-banana oatmeal, and then we piled in the truck. I drove down to corridor "Grove" where we got out and followed our GPS to our first point, CG+16. A blue-and-white striped flag marked the exact spot that Liba had worked at last year. Anh and Annie put out the bug pan traps which are ostensibly 6 plastic bowls of 3 colors: two yellow, two blue, two white. They filled the traps half-full with slightly soapy water. The reflective surface of the water attracts insects, and I guess the different colors attract different types of arthropods. The slimy soap in the water makes it difficult for the bugs to get out again, and so they are sacrificed to science. Tomorrow we will go back to each of the points we left traps at and collect the bugs, now specimens, for identification later on. This will allow researchers to know what kind of arthropods are living at Hakalau. Liba is particularly interested in knowing how many native bees, genus Hylaeus, are around, and if they're doing okay or if they're declining.
I let the interns set out the traps, then they move on to the next point, 150m downhill. Once they've disappeared and their rustling has moved on, I begin my 8minute bird point count. For 8min I stand quietly and record every bird I see or hear, trying to keep track of those I've already counted (no easy feat, try keeping track of Japanese White-eyes bubbling around in a Koa tree!). This morning's point count of 10 points was a little slow. At several stations I only had three species: Amakihi, Japanese White-eyes and Northern Cardinals. Two other birds I counted a lot were Wild Turkeys, blabbling in the distance, and Erckel's Francolins, a chicken-sized ground bird who likes to startle hikers by suddenly bursting into the air with an explosion of wing beats from where you were about to put your foot.
The mornings are cool here, and the sun makes the distant clouds blush over Hilo town, far below us. The mountain top to our west begins to glow long before the sun hits our elevation. By 8am though, the sun is beating down and hiking gets hot. The shade remains cool and pleasant all day, however.
Yesterday I was helping to collect the samples from the pan traps down in the forest and I heard a descending ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee, like the Amakihi squeaky sewing-machine song, but with a distinct downward movement, a Hawaii Creeper! One of the three main endangered birds here at Hakalau. Then, from a little farther off I heard the jijit, double begging call of a young HACR. I smiled in their direction, but I had a bowl full of floating dead bugs in my lap, a vial with alcohol in one hand, and a pair of tweezers in the other hand, so I couldn't get up to go find them. I bent back down to my work and finished quickly. On my way back to the road, I heard a little two-note squeak, and looked up to see a chunky dull yellow bird with hardly a tail jumping around the large branches of a meandering Koa tree. I popped my bins up and saw the distinctive bill of an Akiapola'au, with a long curved upper mandible and the stout woodpecker-like lower mandible. The Aki peered at me then leaned over the branch to peek underneath for possible grubs. Another Aki joined the first and they exchanged soft dee-deet calls.
A little brown bird swooped in, as if wanting to know what was going on in this little busy spot in the forest. He spotted me and began whistling "paio! paio! eh-eh-paio!" The little Elepaio flew from one branch to another with a snap of his bill. When he landed, I saw he had an insect in his beak. He shook his head and gobbled down his snack, then hopped along the branch to get a closer look at the tall flightless intruder.
I said goodbye to the forest birds and went back to the road where Anh and Annie were waiting.
This morning I woke up at 4:40, ate a breakfast of almond-banana oatmeal, and then we piled in the truck. I drove down to corridor "Grove" where we got out and followed our GPS to our first point, CG+16. A blue-and-white striped flag marked the exact spot that Liba had worked at last year. Anh and Annie put out the bug pan traps which are ostensibly 6 plastic bowls of 3 colors: two yellow, two blue, two white. They filled the traps half-full with slightly soapy water. The reflective surface of the water attracts insects, and I guess the different colors attract different types of arthropods. The slimy soap in the water makes it difficult for the bugs to get out again, and so they are sacrificed to science. Tomorrow we will go back to each of the points we left traps at and collect the bugs, now specimens, for identification later on. This will allow researchers to know what kind of arthropods are living at Hakalau. Liba is particularly interested in knowing how many native bees, genus Hylaeus, are around, and if they're doing okay or if they're declining.
I let the interns set out the traps, then they move on to the next point, 150m downhill. Once they've disappeared and their rustling has moved on, I begin my 8minute bird point count. For 8min I stand quietly and record every bird I see or hear, trying to keep track of those I've already counted (no easy feat, try keeping track of Japanese White-eyes bubbling around in a Koa tree!). This morning's point count of 10 points was a little slow. At several stations I only had three species: Amakihi, Japanese White-eyes and Northern Cardinals. Two other birds I counted a lot were Wild Turkeys, blabbling in the distance, and Erckel's Francolins, a chicken-sized ground bird who likes to startle hikers by suddenly bursting into the air with an explosion of wing beats from where you were about to put your foot.
The mornings are cool here, and the sun makes the distant clouds blush over Hilo town, far below us. The mountain top to our west begins to glow long before the sun hits our elevation. By 8am though, the sun is beating down and hiking gets hot. The shade remains cool and pleasant all day, however.
Yesterday I was helping to collect the samples from the pan traps down in the forest and I heard a descending ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee, like the Amakihi squeaky sewing-machine song, but with a distinct downward movement, a Hawaii Creeper! One of the three main endangered birds here at Hakalau. Then, from a little farther off I heard the jijit, double begging call of a young HACR. I smiled in their direction, but I had a bowl full of floating dead bugs in my lap, a vial with alcohol in one hand, and a pair of tweezers in the other hand, so I couldn't get up to go find them. I bent back down to my work and finished quickly. On my way back to the road, I heard a little two-note squeak, and looked up to see a chunky dull yellow bird with hardly a tail jumping around the large branches of a meandering Koa tree. I popped my bins up and saw the distinctive bill of an Akiapola'au, with a long curved upper mandible and the stout woodpecker-like lower mandible. The Aki peered at me then leaned over the branch to peek underneath for possible grubs. Another Aki joined the first and they exchanged soft dee-deet calls.
A little brown bird swooped in, as if wanting to know what was going on in this little busy spot in the forest. He spotted me and began whistling "paio! paio! eh-eh-paio!" The little Elepaio flew from one branch to another with a snap of his bill. When he landed, I saw he had an insect in his beak. He shook his head and gobbled down his snack, then hopped along the branch to get a closer look at the tall flightless intruder.
I said goodbye to the forest birds and went back to the road where Anh and Annie were waiting.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Bad luck but great birds
After losing my plane ticket, my computer broke, my drivers lisence expired, and my binoculars broke. I'm glad I don't have a car anymore because if I did it would break down tomorrow. But, as devastating as the binocular breakage is, I'm very lucky indeed to be doing what I'm doing right now.
We've only been banding twice so far, but will be doing so for the next two months up in the kipuka on the saddle road of the Big Island. Liba, the Stanford postdoc, warned us that we probably would only be catching a handful of birds each day (as in, 1 would be exciting). But today we caught 12 plus a recap. Mostly Red-billed Leiothrix, but several I'iwi, a Japanese White-eye and a Hawaii Amakihi. The I'iwi are cool to look at head-on; their bills are so curved and delicately thin. The family of honeycreepers, Drepanidinae, has a distinct birdy smell. We're color-banding, and will spend most afternoons re-sighting, which is one of the main reasons why my binoculars breaking is so unfortunate.
It's also just so wonderful to be working out in the vegetation islands surrounded by lava. I can look through the Ohi'a and Koa trees to see the hyper-white cloud bank moving up the slopes of Mauna Kea, rolling up towards the round astronomy observatories perched on the summit. The sense is similar to the cloud bank moving into Palo or engulfing the golden gate bridge, but with starker scenery.
We've only been banding twice so far, but will be doing so for the next two months up in the kipuka on the saddle road of the Big Island. Liba, the Stanford postdoc, warned us that we probably would only be catching a handful of birds each day (as in, 1 would be exciting). But today we caught 12 plus a recap. Mostly Red-billed Leiothrix, but several I'iwi, a Japanese White-eye and a Hawaii Amakihi. The I'iwi are cool to look at head-on; their bills are so curved and delicately thin. The family of honeycreepers, Drepanidinae, has a distinct birdy smell. We're color-banding, and will spend most afternoons re-sighting, which is one of the main reasons why my binoculars breaking is so unfortunate.
It's also just so wonderful to be working out in the vegetation islands surrounded by lava. I can look through the Ohi'a and Koa trees to see the hyper-white cloud bank moving up the slopes of Mauna Kea, rolling up towards the round astronomy observatories perched on the summit. The sense is similar to the cloud bank moving into Palo or engulfing the golden gate bridge, but with starker scenery.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
"Stuck" in SF
I was one of the thousands stranded across the country when I attempted to return home from Florida on thursday. I shoulda known better than to fly ATA, but I'm still functioning on an intern's budget. So, I got to LA on Delta before finding out that ATA no longer existed, and my plane ticket was worthless. Hearing all the horror stories, I was actually one of the lucky ones. I got a quick flight up to SF on Virgin America (wow, nice airlines, and totally different socio-economic bracket) and from there to Honolulu the next day. I was able to stay with a family friend and actually went birding in SF on Friday. Picked up Eared Grebe on my life list in a little marina. Surprisingly, there was also a Horned Grebe about 50m further down. It was nice to see the two so close and therefore immediately comparable. Also saw a CALT in the parking lot which lifted my spirits immensely. It was nice to be back in the bay area, even unexpectedly. Wish I had had more time to organize a stop-over visit at Palo.
Now, I'm back in the islands jet-lagged and a little depressed about the Northern Cardinals, Red-crested Cardinals, Bulbuls, Mynahs, Nutmeg Manakins, MODOs, Zebra Doves, Japanese White-eyes, and feral cats around. But the waves at the beach yesterday helped. Can't wait to get over to the Big Island where they Akis await me. I'll be working with a postdoc from Stanford who is studying kipuka size for restoration. We'll be banding, resighting and doing veg surveys (no p-oak!) for the spring. Still looking for something for this summer and beyond.
By the way, those beard pictures are awesome but would scare small children.
Now, I'm back in the islands jet-lagged and a little depressed about the Northern Cardinals, Red-crested Cardinals, Bulbuls, Mynahs, Nutmeg Manakins, MODOs, Zebra Doves, Japanese White-eyes, and feral cats around. But the waves at the beach yesterday helped. Can't wait to get over to the Big Island where they Akis await me. I'll be working with a postdoc from Stanford who is studying kipuka size for restoration. We'll be banding, resighting and doing veg surveys (no p-oak!) for the spring. Still looking for something for this summer and beyond.
By the way, those beard pictures are awesome but would scare small children.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Central Valley is the "cool" place to be!
Today I arrived in an exotic village called "Modest-O"...where I will be spending my summer looking for nests - and shade. (I am missing the ocean already...)
I must say, though - it's not as awful as most people have described it. It's no Bolinas or Stinson, but it's a heck of a lot better than East Hartford, CT. And although I have been warned not to look the locals in the eye or piss them off...I'm not scared.
We've also got a pretty sweet pad with furniture and everything! Thanks to the Dettler for finding the place. We don't have a pool, but I think we can get one of those kiddie pools in the front yard and soak our butts in it while drinking beer and smoking cigarettes (just kidding about the cigarettes part...not about the soaking butts in the kiddie pools...).
Tomorrow I get to check out the sites and the birds with Mr. D. Should be fun!
Hope everyone is well.
Kokes
I must say, though - it's not as awful as most people have described it. It's no Bolinas or Stinson, but it's a heck of a lot better than East Hartford, CT. And although I have been warned not to look the locals in the eye or piss them off...I'm not scared.
We've also got a pretty sweet pad with furniture and everything! Thanks to the Dettler for finding the place. We don't have a pool, but I think we can get one of those kiddie pools in the front yard and soak our butts in it while drinking beer and smoking cigarettes (just kidding about the cigarettes part...not about the soaking butts in the kiddie pools...).
Tomorrow I get to check out the sites and the birds with Mr. D. Should be fun!
Hope everyone is well.
Kokes
Gouldii Headed For the Central Valley
Hey all, I will be headed to Redding California in the next week to start nest searching on the Clear Creek Project. I will definitely miss Palo and the Ocean, but I am looking forward to working woth some cool birds. I hope everyone is doing well and best of luck to you all in your future endeavors.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Midwestern is back in the Midwest!
Hey everybody! Well, to update - after living in DC for a few months, I up and moved to Forsyth Missouri... yeah, I know what you're thinking, 'gosh Jessica, was it a good idea to move to southern Missouri at the beginning of tornado season?'. I was asking myself that very question a couple of nights ago as I was listening to the emergency broadcast system tell me that a tornado was headed directly for me at 30mph... Luckily the surrounding hilly landscape broke it up and all we got hit with was some hail (and not the tennis ball sized stuff they were getting a little further north). Another natural disaster narrowly averted! Ha ha!
So I moved down here to work at Chase Studio making natural history museum exhibits. I've only been working there for a month now, so I'm still doing mostly odd jobs to help other people out - making trees and ferns, sculpting rocks out of plaster, painting plants to look dead. I've also been helping out with the installation of a new exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK. I get to work with Terry Chase - founder of the company - putting together dioramas. This man is really really ridiculously good at what he does. Really. Learning this stuff from the best guy in the business makes up for the fact that I'm living in middle of nowhere in southern Missouri... and that's saying a lot (I'm living near Branson people... Branson).
So that's what I've been up to as of late.
As far as birds, I've continued my tradition of being the lazy birder (side note: one of my proudest lazy birder moments recently was in Kauai when I spotted my first Great Frigatebird while lying on the beach absent-mindedly staring at the sky) so at this point the bulk of my bird list consists of sightings from my apartment window or outside at the studio - although I'm sure that will change since there's a lot of wilderness around here and when I go on exploratory excursions I'm always packin' glass. Also, I will admit that I actually got up at sunrise one morning last weekend and walked around for the sole purpose of birding. Score one bird dork point for midwestern!
Also, Koko, I had a bloody mary yesterday and thought of you :)
So I moved down here to work at Chase Studio making natural history museum exhibits. I've only been working there for a month now, so I'm still doing mostly odd jobs to help other people out - making trees and ferns, sculpting rocks out of plaster, painting plants to look dead. I've also been helping out with the installation of a new exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK. I get to work with Terry Chase - founder of the company - putting together dioramas. This man is really really ridiculously good at what he does. Really. Learning this stuff from the best guy in the business makes up for the fact that I'm living in middle of nowhere in southern Missouri... and that's saying a lot (I'm living near Branson people... Branson).
So that's what I've been up to as of late.
As far as birds, I've continued my tradition of being the lazy birder (side note: one of my proudest lazy birder moments recently was in Kauai when I spotted my first Great Frigatebird while lying on the beach absent-mindedly staring at the sky) so at this point the bulk of my bird list consists of sightings from my apartment window or outside at the studio - although I'm sure that will change since there's a lot of wilderness around here and when I go on exploratory excursions I'm always packin' glass. Also, I will admit that I actually got up at sunrise one morning last weekend and walked around for the sole purpose of birding. Score one bird dork point for midwestern!
Also, Koko, I had a bloody mary yesterday and thought of you :)
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