I went out on Powerline Road with visitors this morning, and got a glorious 6AM start. I wasn't stopping for bird counts or plant photos, so we were in the big kipuka by 7:15AM, which is amazing. The clouds broke up briefly at dawn, and various degrees of pleasantly cool cloudiness came and went throughout the day. It doesn't get much nicer out there, and made a wonderful change from the extremely wet recent weather. Every bog and puddle on the Saddle was full to overflowing from the recent rains.
The rare birds came out in record numbers today, at multiple locations. We found everything we were looking for pretty much exactly where expected, and then some. In the big kipuka we quickly had 2 'io, 4-5 Hawai'i creeper and 3-4 'akepa. They were all in the small area we usually visit which the rare birds are strangely faithful to, and significantly more than I've ever encountered at once in any kipuka. Continuing on to the section of kipuka ahiu on powerline road, where the rare birds are also often seen, we immediately got another 2+ 'akepa and a creeper. We were still missing 'akiapola'au, so we worked our way downslope through the kipuka to the concentration of koa at the lower end. After half an hour of listening for them we had given up and were climbing back out when we finally heard the turbo-warble of an 'akiapola'au just behind us, just in time. It said, "Wait, I'm over here!" A few minutes later we spotted him at a distance, but clearly.
Previously I had usually estimated the population of endangered birds in the big kipuka at about 3 'akepa, 3 creeper, 1-2 'akiapola'au and 1 'io. Today's sightings suggest there may be one or two more of each. It would be interesting to spend a few long weekends in the largest sections of kipuka ahiu and decide on a likely total population. I have to wonder how it has changed in recent years.
'Apapane and Japanese white-eye numbers were very low. There were often more i'iwi than 'apapane, and occasionally no white-eyes in an area. 'Oma'o and 'elepaio were also either less numerous or more quiet than average. The other common birds were at fairly normal levels.
The rare birds came out in record numbers today, at multiple locations. We found everything we were looking for pretty much exactly where expected, and then some. In the big kipuka we quickly had 2 'io, 4-5 Hawai'i creeper and 3-4 'akepa. They were all in the small area we usually visit which the rare birds are strangely faithful to, and significantly more than I've ever encountered at once in any kipuka. Continuing on to the section of kipuka ahiu on powerline road, where the rare birds are also often seen, we immediately got another 2+ 'akepa and a creeper. We were still missing 'akiapola'au, so we worked our way downslope through the kipuka to the concentration of koa at the lower end. After half an hour of listening for them we had given up and were climbing back out when we finally heard the turbo-warble of an 'akiapola'au just behind us, just in time. It said, "Wait, I'm over here!" A few minutes later we spotted him at a distance, but clearly.
Previously I had usually estimated the population of endangered birds in the big kipuka at about 3 'akepa, 3 creeper, 1-2 'akiapola'au and 1 'io. Today's sightings suggest there may be one or two more of each. It would be interesting to spend a few long weekends in the largest sections of kipuka ahiu and decide on a likely total population. I have to wonder how it has changed in recent years.
'Apapane and Japanese white-eye numbers were very low. There were often more i'iwi than 'apapane, and occasionally no white-eyes in an area. 'Oma'o and 'elepaio were also either less numerous or more quiet than average. The other common birds were at fairly normal levels.
