jadewolf
Well-known member
- Post score: 22
- #1
Spending the week on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi this week, primarily photographing birds. Spent two days at Hakalau Forest NWR and a third day in the dryland forests of Mauna Kea and managed to get some wonderful shots of some very rare birds. It was hard to only pick five photos for this thread! There are more that I'd love to share, including a shot of an 'i'iwi feeding from an uncommon yellow-morph blossom of an 'ōhiʻa lehua tree and both photos and video of an endangered Hawaiʻi ʻākepa female inspecting a tree cavity as an potential nesting site (a link to a clip of the video, at least, is here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqL2dszD0bS/ )
Still have a few more days and going looking for pueo (Hawaiian Short-Eared Owls) tomorrow, but here's the best of so far...
The ʻakiapōlāʻau, one of the rarest of the remaining Hawaiian honeycreepers. Population is estimated to be fewer than 600-900 individuals remaining. They use their distinctive bill as a multipurpose tool. The straight lower bill is used to hammer into koa branches similar to a woodpecker, then the curved upper bill is used to pry insects from the wood. They feed primarily on one specific species of endemic Lepidoptera beetle larvae. They only reproduce every other year, producing a single egg which, once hatched, they then spend more than 14 months raising.
The Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihi, one of the more numerous and resilient of the Hawaiian honeycreeper species. This one is perched in the māmane blossoms in a dry montane forest on the slopes of Mauna Kea. I went looking in this forest for the critically endangered Palila, but was unable to find one. There were dozens of ʻAmakihi, however.
An ʻiʻiwi perches among the leaves of an ʻākala (Hawaiian raspberry) after sipping nectar from the purple blossoms.
An ʻŌmaʻo (Hawaiian thrush) shelters from the rain in the thick branches of an old growth koa tree. These birds primarily feed on berries and have a very distinctive set of calls. I really like how contemplative he looks here. Like he's wondering "when will this rain end?"
A juvenile ʻElepaio readies to take off from the crook of a koa branch. These are flycatchers, who typically flit between koa trees looking for insects. As juveniles, they are a drab grey-brown, but mature to a more distinctively patterned brown and black with white patches on the throat. In Hawaiian culture, these birds are often the ʻaumakua (ancestor / guardian spirits) of canoe-makers, as it was said that if an ʻelapaio avoided a tree, then it was good for canoe making (likely due to not having holes for bugs in the wood).
All of these birds are imperiled by introduced avian malaria spread by invasive mosquitoes. They only survive above the mosquito line, which is currently at around 5,000' elevation. But this elevation has increased over the past several decades and is still climbing as climate change has made the islands warmer and allowed the mosquitoes to move higher up the mountains. Important bird habitat sites where just two years ago were mosquito-free have now had mosquitoes detected.
There are plans in the works to try and control the invasive mosquitoes through bio controls (currently the plan involves releasing wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes which, when breeding with the females, will not produce eggs) but these plans face a lot of pushback from the anti-science crowds. It's estimated that some of these birds will likely be extinct within the next 5-10 years if nothing is done.
Still have a few more days and going looking for pueo (Hawaiian Short-Eared Owls) tomorrow, but here's the best of so far...
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
The ʻakiapōlāʻau, one of the rarest of the remaining Hawaiian honeycreepers. Population is estimated to be fewer than 600-900 individuals remaining. They use their distinctive bill as a multipurpose tool. The straight lower bill is used to hammer into koa branches similar to a woodpecker, then the curved upper bill is used to pry insects from the wood. They feed primarily on one specific species of endemic Lepidoptera beetle larvae. They only reproduce every other year, producing a single egg which, once hatched, they then spend more than 14 months raising.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
The Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihi, one of the more numerous and resilient of the Hawaiian honeycreeper species. This one is perched in the māmane blossoms in a dry montane forest on the slopes of Mauna Kea. I went looking in this forest for the critically endangered Palila, but was unable to find one. There were dozens of ʻAmakihi, however.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
An ʻiʻiwi perches among the leaves of an ʻākala (Hawaiian raspberry) after sipping nectar from the purple blossoms.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
An ʻŌmaʻo (Hawaiian thrush) shelters from the rain in the thick branches of an old growth koa tree. These birds primarily feed on berries and have a very distinctive set of calls. I really like how contemplative he looks here. Like he's wondering "when will this rain end?"
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
A juvenile ʻElepaio readies to take off from the crook of a koa branch. These are flycatchers, who typically flit between koa trees looking for insects. As juveniles, they are a drab grey-brown, but mature to a more distinctively patterned brown and black with white patches on the throat. In Hawaiian culture, these birds are often the ʻaumakua (ancestor / guardian spirits) of canoe-makers, as it was said that if an ʻelapaio avoided a tree, then it was good for canoe making (likely due to not having holes for bugs in the wood).
All of these birds are imperiled by introduced avian malaria spread by invasive mosquitoes. They only survive above the mosquito line, which is currently at around 5,000' elevation. But this elevation has increased over the past several decades and is still climbing as climate change has made the islands warmer and allowed the mosquitoes to move higher up the mountains. Important bird habitat sites where just two years ago were mosquito-free have now had mosquitoes detected.
There are plans in the works to try and control the invasive mosquitoes through bio controls (currently the plan involves releasing wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes which, when breeding with the females, will not produce eggs) but these plans face a lot of pushback from the anti-science crowds. It's estimated that some of these birds will likely be extinct within the next 5-10 years if nothing is done.
