The weather finally settled down and cooperated for a day out on Powerline Road. I got an early start, though not quite dawn, and counted at all the usual survey stations. More trees have blossoms, though most are still not in bloom yet.
The primary change from recent counts is that Japanese White-eye numbers vastly increased!
Flocks of white-eyes were present in some kipukas. They were even counted in the scrubby lava fields. 'Apapane and 'amakihi were numerous. I'iwi numbers were about half the unusually high numbers they were in recent weeks, more like normal. In the kipuka 3 miles out, where the endangered birds are usually seen, I did not see/hear any 'akiapola'au above the road for the first time in a few months. (over about a half hour) I heard the mysterious dog(s?) in the East side of this kipuka again, and no hunters were around. I need to go down there sometime and see if I can locate and photo the dog. A pig also passed us as we were leaving the kipuka.
After counting along Powerline Road, we went over to the large kipuka West of the road. Along the way we sniffed some nice sandalwood flowers and checked the fenceline of a rare plant enclosure for damage. In the large kipuka we didn't see/hear any pigs or dogs today, for the first time in a long while. We proceed into the heart of the kipuka and started to hear some 'akepa. After following the 'akepa calls around we encountered one of the mythical "mixed feeding flocks", with a large variety of birds collected together. It included 4+ 'akepa, 1+ Hawai'i creeper and 1+ 'akiapola'au. It was difficult to tell which was which, due to the number of birds of various species in the flock and the darkness and fog. In the end, we saw all four endangered bird species that live on Powerline Road, as well as endangered plants.
The fog settled in thick early in the afternoon, but it was so calm I was not worried about storms. We returned to the cars just about dark.
The primary change from recent counts is that Japanese White-eye numbers vastly increased!
Flocks of white-eyes were present in some kipukas. They were even counted in the scrubby lava fields. 'Apapane and 'amakihi were numerous. I'iwi numbers were about half the unusually high numbers they were in recent weeks, more like normal. In the kipuka 3 miles out, where the endangered birds are usually seen, I did not see/hear any 'akiapola'au above the road for the first time in a few months. (over about a half hour) I heard the mysterious dog(s?) in the East side of this kipuka again, and no hunters were around. I need to go down there sometime and see if I can locate and photo the dog. A pig also passed us as we were leaving the kipuka.After counting along Powerline Road, we went over to the large kipuka West of the road. Along the way we sniffed some nice sandalwood flowers and checked the fenceline of a rare plant enclosure for damage. In the large kipuka we didn't see/hear any pigs or dogs today, for the first time in a long while. We proceed into the heart of the kipuka and started to hear some 'akepa. After following the 'akepa calls around we encountered one of the mythical "mixed feeding flocks", with a large variety of birds collected together. It included 4+ 'akepa, 1+ Hawai'i creeper and 1+ 'akiapola'au. It was difficult to tell which was which, due to the number of birds of various species in the flock and the darkness and fog. In the end, we saw all four endangered bird species that live on Powerline Road, as well as endangered plants.
The fog settled in thick early in the afternoon, but it was so calm I was not worried about storms. We returned to the cars just about dark.
