The incredible dry and cloudless forecast was fulfilled! The weather was hot - yuck! - but also perfect for pushing the limits of how far I can go in a day. Unfortunately I was slow to get out of the house in the morning, so I only got a 6:45AM start. There was also one hunter headed out to the last kipuka at the same time.
I skipped most of the bird counts so I could make more distance. I did two counts along Powerline Road, catching an 'akiapola'au in the second. When I reached the 1881 lava flow I followed it down for a couple miles to the narrow spot in the 1852 lava where I enter the silversword bog kipuka. I wandered around in new parts, and eventually made my way to the silversword bog, with its newly expanded fence. The silversword bog kipuka has a lot of lumpy topography which would be good for hiding rare plants, but I saw none today. It's also quite large and extended, so searching it would take months. I entered the kipuka in the middle where I've never been before, and was surprised to find that it has many bogs inside. Most are sphagnum moss or grass bogs. Bog grasses included native tussocks like deschampsia and oreobolus. Alien grasses included a surprising abundance of juncus (mat rush). Some of the bogs were just filled with algae scum. It was an interesting landscape, and I'd love to spend more time in there searching, but I can only get there in the best weather. One surprise plant I found in a few places were slender ho'awa trees. These are usually restricted to dry and mesic forests. One tree on the edge of the kipuka was very healthy and full of pods.
After walking the silversword bog fenceline and checking that none of the silverswords were flowering (several flowered last year), I cut across the kipuka to look across the lava fields on the other side and see how awful the terrain looked between here and the other kipukas. On the South side of the kipuka I encountered bird survey transect 26, which I often follow from Powerline Road to the top of this kipuka.
Climbing up onto the 1852 lava I could see several kipukas across the big 1852 and 1984 lava flows. Transect 26 goes into the kipuka just East of this one, so after working up the resolve I followed the transect flagging across the hairy 1852 'a'a lava surface to the next kipuka, where I've never been before. I didn't have much time to look into the small new kipuka, and I didn't see much of interest. More juncus bogs, and common plants. Few birds. I was unable to reach the East side and climb onto the 1984 lava flow to look across, which was my original goal for the day. Somewhere out there across the 1984 lava is the remains of the former 'o'u kipuka that the 1984 lava destroyed, which I would dearly like to see this summer!
I had stopped at station 25 on transect 26. I spent the rest of the day tracing transect 26 back up through the silversword bog kipuka, looking around for interesting plants and gathering the coordinates of all the stations with my GPS. This took me up the opposite side of the kipuka from where I had been earlier in the day. It was a pretty good tour, though I only saw a fraction of the kipuka. Exiting the West end of the kipuka, I took the old mysterious trail across the 1852 and 1984 lava back to the Powerline Road kipuka. I started back towards the car just after sunset, and it was finally nice and cool!
The bog kipuka has a lower bird density than the Powerline Road kipukas, and I have noticed this about the lower kipukas every time I have ventured far East of Powerline Road. All of the typical saddle birds were there in low numbers. I heard an 'io several times in the bog kipuka. On the way back up the transect I also thought I heard a creeper in the bog kipuka. There were also an abundance of mosquitoes in this kipuka, and I terminated a nest of wigglers in a pocket of water collected in a pig-eaten hapu'u husk. I drained a few more, but there are always far more than can be dealt with. On the way back through the meadows just below Powerline Road in kipuka ahiu there was an 'akepa and a couple of house finches.
One last interesting experience occurred on the 1855 lava field as I stopped on my way back to the car. It was about a half hour after sunset, and the air was still and the silence was so intense I could only hear the background noise of my own ears for several minutes. (Except for one pesky mosquito that I squashed) I watched the sky darken, the stars brighten, and lines of cars make their way down from the observatories of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. I don't think I've ever experienced complete silence like that before. There's usually at least a puff of wind, or a distant aircraft or automobile or creature.
Tomorrow's forecast is for more of the same, but I don't know if my feet can take another major expedition. Off to an early bedtime this evening...after I rehydrate...
I skipped most of the bird counts so I could make more distance. I did two counts along Powerline Road, catching an 'akiapola'au in the second. When I reached the 1881 lava flow I followed it down for a couple miles to the narrow spot in the 1852 lava where I enter the silversword bog kipuka. I wandered around in new parts, and eventually made my way to the silversword bog, with its newly expanded fence. The silversword bog kipuka has a lot of lumpy topography which would be good for hiding rare plants, but I saw none today. It's also quite large and extended, so searching it would take months. I entered the kipuka in the middle where I've never been before, and was surprised to find that it has many bogs inside. Most are sphagnum moss or grass bogs. Bog grasses included native tussocks like deschampsia and oreobolus. Alien grasses included a surprising abundance of juncus (mat rush). Some of the bogs were just filled with algae scum. It was an interesting landscape, and I'd love to spend more time in there searching, but I can only get there in the best weather. One surprise plant I found in a few places were slender ho'awa trees. These are usually restricted to dry and mesic forests. One tree on the edge of the kipuka was very healthy and full of pods.
After walking the silversword bog fenceline and checking that none of the silverswords were flowering (several flowered last year), I cut across the kipuka to look across the lava fields on the other side and see how awful the terrain looked between here and the other kipukas. On the South side of the kipuka I encountered bird survey transect 26, which I often follow from Powerline Road to the top of this kipuka.
Climbing up onto the 1852 lava I could see several kipukas across the big 1852 and 1984 lava flows. Transect 26 goes into the kipuka just East of this one, so after working up the resolve I followed the transect flagging across the hairy 1852 'a'a lava surface to the next kipuka, where I've never been before. I didn't have much time to look into the small new kipuka, and I didn't see much of interest. More juncus bogs, and common plants. Few birds. I was unable to reach the East side and climb onto the 1984 lava flow to look across, which was my original goal for the day. Somewhere out there across the 1984 lava is the remains of the former 'o'u kipuka that the 1984 lava destroyed, which I would dearly like to see this summer!
I had stopped at station 25 on transect 26. I spent the rest of the day tracing transect 26 back up through the silversword bog kipuka, looking around for interesting plants and gathering the coordinates of all the stations with my GPS. This took me up the opposite side of the kipuka from where I had been earlier in the day. It was a pretty good tour, though I only saw a fraction of the kipuka. Exiting the West end of the kipuka, I took the old mysterious trail across the 1852 and 1984 lava back to the Powerline Road kipuka. I started back towards the car just after sunset, and it was finally nice and cool!
The bog kipuka has a lower bird density than the Powerline Road kipukas, and I have noticed this about the lower kipukas every time I have ventured far East of Powerline Road. All of the typical saddle birds were there in low numbers. I heard an 'io several times in the bog kipuka. On the way back up the transect I also thought I heard a creeper in the bog kipuka. There were also an abundance of mosquitoes in this kipuka, and I terminated a nest of wigglers in a pocket of water collected in a pig-eaten hapu'u husk. I drained a few more, but there are always far more than can be dealt with. On the way back through the meadows just below Powerline Road in kipuka ahiu there was an 'akepa and a couple of house finches.
One last interesting experience occurred on the 1855 lava field as I stopped on my way back to the car. It was about a half hour after sunset, and the air was still and the silence was so intense I could only hear the background noise of my own ears for several minutes. (Except for one pesky mosquito that I squashed) I watched the sky darken, the stars brighten, and lines of cars make their way down from the observatories of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. I don't think I've ever experienced complete silence like that before. There's usually at least a puff of wind, or a distant aircraft or automobile or creature.
Tomorrow's forecast is for more of the same, but I don't know if my feet can take another major expedition. Off to an early bedtime this evening...after I rehydrate...
