BirdForum

I continued my initial exploration of the forests South of Kaumana Trail this weekend. It will take me a while to fill this in...

Bird counts in the big forest South of Kaumana Trail were usually very consistent. I'iwi were very well represented and there was an abundance of 'elepaio - I'm not sure why. Average counts for native birds were 6 'apapane, 3 i'iwi, 3 'elepaio, 3 oma'o, 1 'amakihi. I detected no rare honeycreepers. There was 1 'io on the 3rd day. Alien birds were...

bkrownd

Our weather is still dominated by unstable air, with overcast skies, dense haze and humidity. I went back to Kaumana Trail, and instead of the kipukas I went into the contiguous forest South of the trail. Pig damage was extremely heavy in most places, which was very sad. I ran into a few pigs and heard a sheep. There was some sparse plant diversity in scattered tiny protected areas. The forest was quite dense and the ground often undulating, so it was difficult to search thoroughly. I found...

bkrownd

The weather continues to be hazy, overcast and fog. Powerline Road was out of the question. I recently got a nice map of rare and endangered plants on the windward Saddle, which pointed out some curiosities in the tiny kipukas along Kaumana Trail. Since it's close to the road and the lower end of this is fairly sheltered I decided to search these kipukas for the first time under the ominous skies.

The first kipuka wasn't too surprising. Fairly common plants. I did a couple...

bkrownd

Saturday was a sweaty volunteer day at the Kohala Watershed Partnership's leeward forest restoration corridor along Waiakamali Gulch. Weather was partly cloudy, hazy and hot. Got a bit dehydrated working out in the sun. Most people were planting native shrubs. I planted 4 large ones (oha 'wai, naupaka, 'akala and manono) and then climbed up and down Luahine Gulch to inspect the native flora. Typical trees are common mesic to dry forest types such as 'ohi'a, ho'awa, papala kepau, 'a'ali'i (tree...

bkrownd

I went up into the Northern edge of the Hilo Forest Reserve today, at about 4500 feet elevation above Laupahoehoe. (close to Keanakolu and Hakalau Forest NWR) I was helping someone who studies 'amakihi foot mites do mist netting.

We drove up from Laupahoehoe through recent housing developments and light agricultural plots. I think the area between the end of the development and the lower edge of the forest reserve is Kamehameha Schools land, which was a mix of cattle pasture...

bkrownd