Today I continued my initial exploration of the forests North of Saddle Road, across from the lower end of (the official) Kaumana Trail near the 19 mile marker. It has been horribly hot and humid this week which has made me feel extremely exhausted and sore, so I didn't get into the forest until noon. I'm slowly penetrating into this new area, having covered a good fraction of the first two kipukas in two previous outings. (kipuka 1 bad, kipuka 2 excellent) I've never explored the main forest North of Saddle Road before due to its popularity as a hunting area and my memory of the difficult nature of a nearby part of the forest that I explored 2-3 years ago. Since this is a popular hunting area there are well-worn trails from the parking area into the forest, just as there are into the South-side forest off of Kaumana Trail.
Since I was behind schedule I motored through the two kipukas, only stopping to do one bird count in the incredible second kipuka. I had no problem following the trail across the lava field from the second kipuka to the main forest. My initial impression entering the big forest was surprisingly favorable because there were steep slopes and scattered deadfall and high root masses all around that rare plants might hide on, and only modest pig damage. In fact, to my delight the forest got better the further I penetrated. I followed an extremely recent hunter trail directly North all day.
The flora and overall character of this forest was quite similar to that of the higher canopy forest areas on the South side of Saddle Road, with less pig damage. I quickly started finding small 'anini trees, and there is definitely a good population of 'anini going here just like there are in places on the other side of Saddle Road. The one big difference is that I didn't find any opuhe trees, and also oddly I didn't see any 'ohe mauka trees which are so numerous in the adjacent kipukas. There is a large population of 'oha wai, and one of the 'oha wai trees may be the largest I've ever seen! The 'oha wai still have a few flowers opening, and many of the orange pumpkin-esque fruits are ripe to bursting.
The most interesting plant I found today was a single pawale (rumex) vine. (matching the single vine I know of on the South side of Saddle Road.) It was flowering overhead in the tops of the tree ferns, with at least two clusters of wonderfully pink flowers, as pictured below.
The day started calm, hot, humid and overcast. Sprinkles and fog moved in near sunset. There were few 'apapane and 'amakihi, only appearing sporadically 1-3 birds at a time. The non-transient 'oma'o, 'elepaio and i'iwi were the primary native birds. All three were always present in the big forest, as well as in the second kipuka. Japanese white-eye were also regular, and red-billed leiothrix and kalij pheasant were often heard in small numbers but never seen. I think I heard a pig ripping into a tree fern trunk near the end. There were yellow-fronted canaries in the parking area as usual.
Average 8-minute counts:
2 'apapane
<2 'amakihi
3 'oma'o
1.5 'elepaio (mobile family of 3)
1.5 i'iwi (2 total?)
2.5 Japanese white-eye
1 red-billed leiothix
<1 kalij pheasant
One or two kolea were heard overhead, presumably flying to/from the ranch pastures.
The area in question, with the two kipukas and the main forest to the North, at Google Maps
Pawale Flowers: (bright pink when backlit)
Since I was behind schedule I motored through the two kipukas, only stopping to do one bird count in the incredible second kipuka. I had no problem following the trail across the lava field from the second kipuka to the main forest. My initial impression entering the big forest was surprisingly favorable because there were steep slopes and scattered deadfall and high root masses all around that rare plants might hide on, and only modest pig damage. In fact, to my delight the forest got better the further I penetrated. I followed an extremely recent hunter trail directly North all day.
The flora and overall character of this forest was quite similar to that of the higher canopy forest areas on the South side of Saddle Road, with less pig damage. I quickly started finding small 'anini trees, and there is definitely a good population of 'anini going here just like there are in places on the other side of Saddle Road. The one big difference is that I didn't find any opuhe trees, and also oddly I didn't see any 'ohe mauka trees which are so numerous in the adjacent kipukas. There is a large population of 'oha wai, and one of the 'oha wai trees may be the largest I've ever seen! The 'oha wai still have a few flowers opening, and many of the orange pumpkin-esque fruits are ripe to bursting.
The most interesting plant I found today was a single pawale (rumex) vine. (matching the single vine I know of on the South side of Saddle Road.) It was flowering overhead in the tops of the tree ferns, with at least two clusters of wonderfully pink flowers, as pictured below.
The day started calm, hot, humid and overcast. Sprinkles and fog moved in near sunset. There were few 'apapane and 'amakihi, only appearing sporadically 1-3 birds at a time. The non-transient 'oma'o, 'elepaio and i'iwi were the primary native birds. All three were always present in the big forest, as well as in the second kipuka. Japanese white-eye were also regular, and red-billed leiothrix and kalij pheasant were often heard in small numbers but never seen. I think I heard a pig ripping into a tree fern trunk near the end. There were yellow-fronted canaries in the parking area as usual.
Average 8-minute counts:
2 'apapane
<2 'amakihi
3 'oma'o
1.5 'elepaio (mobile family of 3)
1.5 i'iwi (2 total?)
2.5 Japanese white-eye
1 red-billed leiothix
<1 kalij pheasant
One or two kolea were heard overhead, presumably flying to/from the ranch pastures.
The area in question, with the two kipukas and the main forest to the North, at Google Maps
Pawale Flowers: (bright pink when backlit)
