The Wandering Tattler

The day started with an early morning bird walk at Waiakea Pond in Hilo (Greater White-fronted goose, Northern Shovelers, Wandering Tattlers, Golden Plovers). Looking across the pond, we could see the snow-capped peak of Moana Kea between the palm trees of Hilo. Our car rental company informed us that we could take our front-wheel drive 4-cylinder car over the Saddle Road, so that is what we did. The saddle between Moana Kea (world’s tallest mountain) and Moana Loa provides the shortest route from Hilo on the island’s east coast to the Kona region on its west coast. The saddle is also an area of unearthly lava fields, stunted ohia forests, and dramatic kipukas. Kipukas are “islands” of vegetation created by lava flows which sterilize everything they cover, isolating the plants and animals in each kipuka. These “islands on islands” often harbor unique populations o of small animals, such as insects or tree snails, which may evolve into separate, distinct species. The old lava field surrounding each kipuka typically is very deep, so that only the tops of the trees appear above the surrounding terrain. It is possible to climb down the steep lava walls to walk on the floor of the kipuka forest, but the rock is very sharp and uneven, so the descent can be challenging. [The first photo below shows the tops of ohia trees projecting above the walls of the lava flow.] This is also one of the prime areas for many of Hawaii’s endemic birds, which cannot survive at lower elevations. Unfortunately, it was raining as we drove through, so opportunities for birding were limited. Nonetheless, during our few brief stops these bizarre woods seemed to be alive with birds. We had hoped to see an I’iwi, but saw only more apapenes.

At Mile 28, we took a 10-mile detour up the Moana Kea Summit Road to the Moana Kea Visitor Cente at 9,000 feet. Much of the 10-mile long Summit Road has a 17% grade and our vehicle could move no faster than 20 mph over many stretches. Above the visitor center the peak of the mountain was obscured by clouds and the road was closed due to icing, but nearby we found an area where a Big Island endemic, the Moana Kea Silversword (a strange relative of the sunflower), grows under state protection, a discovery which I thought justified our detour off the Saddle Road. The visitor center is a staging area used by the astronomers and technicians who manage the many large telescopes a top of Moana Kea, but even astronomers could not ascend the mountain today.

Unusually wet weather has followed us wherever we have traveled - in California, Oahu, and now Hawaii. The staff at the visitor center assured us that the skies had been clear yesterday and that they normally have a unobstructed view of both Moana Kea and Moana Loa. Just what we wanted to hear! The visitor center folks assured us that it never rained in Kona, on the leeward side of the island and that we would soon by basking in warm sunshine.)

The Saddle Road is narrow, undulating, and poorly paved. It isn’t hard to understand why rental companies formerly prohibited customers from driving this route. Some modest improvements at the eastern (Hilo) end of the road seem to have put an end to those restrictions, but for much of the way I kept to the center of the road to avoid the rough margins. After returning from the Summit Road, we followed the Saddle Road westward across a military preserve, where several army helicopters perfomed maneuvers and numerous signs warned of overhead artillery fire. Quite surreal.

As we approached the west coast and the Kona region, the vegetation changed to open grassland, much of it grazed by cattle or sheep. Upon reaching Kailua-Kona we bought some produce in the Farmers’ Market, picked up milk and meat at the Safeway, and checked into the Kona Reef condo building. Our unit is very comfortable – except for the bed – and it looks out at an angle toward the black-sand beach. I saws some exotic Saffron Finches on the lawn as we arrived, reminding me that virtually 100% of the flora and fauna at sea level in Hawaii consists of introduced species, maintained on the dry leeward sides of the island (where most of the tourists accommodations are found) by intensive irrigation.
We were delighted to find that our unit has wireless internet connection, so I’m composing this entry in the comfort of our own lodging.

Saturday we drove up Rt. 11 from Hilo to Volcano National Park, a most unusual place. Kilauea is not a mountain but a caldera on the flanks of Moana Loa, and although towering fountains of lava were emitted from the main Kileaua caldera in 1959, most of the volcano’s recent productions have issued from vents below this caldera. Saturday’s expedition brought back vivid but somewhat fuzzy memories of our visit here 15 years earlier. At that time, lava was flowing down the flank of Kilauea and crossing (and blocking) the lowest part of the the Chain of Craters Road, down near the ocean. In 1990 we were able to walk over the previous day’s smooth, glassy pahoehoe, only feet away from the newest red-hot lava. Our sneakers became uncomfortably hot from the red lava running only inches beneath the hard black surface lava, grass burned around the edges of the flow, and towering clouds of steam rose where large tongues of lava spilled into the ocean. A large flow in April, 2003, however, blocked the section of the Chain of Craters Road where visitors had previously parked, so now we were unable to get very close to the flowing lava. Saturday, after hiking a mile from the parking area near the shore we climbed onto a shelf of 2003 lava, from which we could see the bottom of the giant steam plume a mile away, and by holding our binoculars steady we could see red lava entering the sea.

We also drove around most of the main Kilauea caldera on the rim road, looking at the volcano’s many craters, now plugged with 50 or 60 feet of solid lava floating above a reservoir of molten rock. These lava plugs, which are covered with steaming vents, are slowly subsiding, leaving successive “bathtub rings” on the sulfur-coated crater walls. We walked across part of the caldera floor among sulfurous vents, clambering over large slabs of lava, peering down into the main crater, and looking at small ohia lehue plants that were colonizing the old lava. In many areas of the park, roads cross old lava flows whose dates (1969, 1974, 1982, etc.) are posted on signs.

We revisited the Thurston Lava tube and took a ranger-led walk through the rainforest on the caldera rim. This forest is dominated by short red-blossomed ohia lehue trees and by several large, odd ferns, including tree ferns. The woods are animated by large numbers of Apapene, an endemic Hawaiian honeycreeper whose pleasant calls and bright red plumage create a very attractive atmosphere. These birds, along with the remaining survivors of the great Hawaiian honeycreeper radiation, are mostly limited to elevations above the frost line at 4,000 feet, since the introduced mosquitos that carry the introduced avian pox and avian malaria parasite, cannot survive above this level. The imported Indian Mongoose, which eats ground-nesting birds throughout the main islands (except Kauai), does not occur at these eleveations. We saw another Hawaiian endemic, the nene, an endangered goose that survives today only in scattered locations on Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui. Fog and clouds covered the nearby peaks of Moana Kea and Moana Loa, and an occasional drizzle kept the woods moist. Even atop Kilauea, however, the air was pleasantly warm.

Our flight from Honolulu to the Big Island on Aloha Airlines offered spectacular views of southeast Oahu, Molokai, and all of Maui. Recent heavy rains had washed lots of red soil down the southern flank of the Molokai pali, producing very colorful ocean waters. The cloud-fringed flank of Haleakala was a spectacular sight. Below are some aerial images of Diamondhead on Oahu and of Maui.

Hilo is on the windward side of the Big Island. Naturally, it was raining as we arrived at the little international airport. We’d reserved a Jeep Wrangler, thinking we’d eventually need a 4WD vehicle to traverse the Saddle Road that runs across the high pass between Hilo and the Kona coast, but after driving it 20 miles along the coast we found that the stiff suspension, lack of lumbar support in the seats, and inadequate space (and lack of protection) for luggage necessitated a change in vehicle. After fighting the Dollar Rental Car telephone system for 20 minutes via cell phone, we drove back to the airport and persuaded a lovely Dollar agent to place us in a real car with genuine upholstery and a trunk for luggage.

Hilo is a small, funky town with a row of hotels along its waterfront and a small but lively downtown area of older stores, restaurants, and theaters. The landscape is extremely verdant, since this is one of the wettest spots in the Hawaiian Islands. We visited a small state park north of town and then walked in Liliokalane Park and Coconut Island near our hotel (the Hilo Hawaiian). Once there were many small shops in this area, but they were destroyed by storm-surges or tsunamis during the 20th century and the water-front area has been converted to parkland. A small breakwater protects the harbor, which is visited by large cruise-ships during the day. We did not have good internet access in our hotel, and we had limited facilities for food preparation, so we ate out both nights.

On Friday I saw a black-crowned night heron in Liliokalane Park, along with many Pacific Golden Plovers, and on Coconut Island I saw several Ruddy Turnstones and the first of several Wandering Tattlers!

Today we drove north on H-3 and northeast along the North Shore on Rt. 83 to Waimea Falls. We passed through Oahu’s prime surfing region, including the Bonzai Pipeline. When we were here 15 years ago, we stopped here in early January with Lynn’s parents. On that day an international surfing competition had been cancelled because the waves were taller than 40 feet and competition officials were concerned about losing spectators from the bleachers at the rear of the beach who might be carried away by a giant wave. We did see a couple of people surfing on those giant waves: they were dwarfed by the immense waves, mere spots on an enormous wall of water. Today the waves were smaller and for miles the road was lined by the cars of the surf addicts and their admirers.

We went up to Waimea Falls, management of which had recently been assumed by the Hawaii Audubon Society. This sanctuary has one of the most wonderful botanical gardens I’ve ever seen. It’s not as elegant and orderly as Kew Gardens but it’s extremely impressisve. It’s specialty is the flora of tropical Pacific islands, and it has large sections devoted to the plants of many of the major Pacific island groups, as well as sections organized by taxonomic group (for example, a large area was devoted to Hibiscus evolution and domestication). There were also major sections devoted to ethnobotany and Pacific island agriculture, as well as archeaological remains of ancient Hawaiian villages and reconstructed huts and gardens. My botany colleague, Kristen, could easily spend an entire day or more viewing the plantings. The garden lies within a steep-sided river canyon, in an area of high rainfall and lush natural vegetation, and the plantings are arranged along the banks of a river. At the end of the river is a small but lovely waterfall. In one of the pools we saw a Hawaiian Moorhen, a colorful federally endangered species. We also saw Brazilian cardinals, an introduced species naturalized now in many parts of the state.














Leaving Waimea Falls, we drove up a hilly road to an open meadow overlooking the Pacific. On this hilltop was an ancient Hawaiian sacred site, Pu'u o mahuka Heiau, where sacrifices were offered to the gods and, some speculate, fire signalas exchanged with communities on Kauai, visible on the horizon. Flocks of common waxbills fed on the lawns.



Next we drove through the north tip of Oahu along Rt. 83, passing through an area of wetlands converted to shrimp-farming. In one wet cattle pasture I saw a Hawaiian coot, another endemic species. There were also many cattle egrets in this area, immigrants or imports from Africa. A federal wildlife refuge on the NE shore of Oahu was closed to protect breeding sites for the Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt, an endangered endemic Hawaiian species which I’d seen on Maui during our previous trip. We drove past the Polynesian Cultural Center and the nearby Brigham Young campus, past dramatic Chinaman’s Hat, through Kaneohe and Kailua to Rt. 72, which we followed around the southeast tip of Oahu, past Koko crater and Diamond Head and back into Waikiki. It was an interesting day marred only slightly by several misinterpretations of Hawaiian road signage (which is bizarre, to say the least). It’s also interesting to consider that Oahu has three interstate highways. Go figure! [Hawaiian place names are worth discussion, but I don’t have time for that now. You can get a sense of the issue from the following observation: on Rt 72, approaching Waikiki, we saw a street name that had 6 consecutive vowels. To be fair, the English versions of these names omit the glottal stops, which function as consonants. For example, Hawaii should really be spelled Hawai’i if one is trying to indicate pronunciation .]

Yesterday (Tuesday) we hiked up Diamondhead and enjoyed terrific views of Waikiki and the rest of southern Oahu. After lunch we enjoyed the very tasteful and well presented exhibits in the Waikiki Aquarium, an institution that is vastly superior to the one we visited in 1990. It still has an outdoor pool with two Hawaiian Monk seals, an endangered species numbering fewer than 1,500 individuals. In the afternoon we took a guided walk through the rainforest above Honolulu. Naturally, it was raining. We saw a lot of feral pig damage. Feral pigs, of course, are among the most profoundly destructive agents in Hawaiian ecosystems. In the evening we had dinner with the Sheehans at a Japanese restuarant.

Today (Wednesday) we drove over to Hunauma Bay, Oahu's premier snorkeling site. We put on our wetsuits and began to explore the tremendous reef system in this very protected bay. After less than 30 minutes, the park was evacuated due to a large-scale incursion of box jellyfish (Cubozoids). There had apparently been quite a few nasty encounters. We drove to the northeast shore of Oahu and rented kayaks and snorkeled for a couple of hours at Kailua. Fish diversity here was noticably lower than at Hunauma. In both places the water temperature was in the low 70s - considerably cooler than in the Caribbean. Afterwards we drove south over the Pali Highway to Honolulu.

Our flight out of SF on Sunday was delayed by 90 minutes, but once airborne we had a fairly smooth flight into Honolulu. We're staying on the top (37th) floor of a condo on Kuhio, one block east of Liliuokalani. We found a Safeway, filled our frig, and made our first meal Sunday evening. (In searching the Yellow Pages for a supermarket, we found a listing for C & S Wholesalers here in Honolulu. Small world...)

Today (Monday) we spent a couple of hours at the Foster Botanical Garden, a small but lovely place with lots of native and naturalized plants, including massive baobab and kapok trees. We also saw mynahs, red-vented bulbuls, South American cardinals, zebra doves, fairy terns, white-rumped shamas, Pacific Golden Plovers, and other birds. Afterwards we drove up to the military cemetery in the crater called the Punchbowl, and then over the torturous Tantalus Drive and Roundtop Drive. We enjoyed fabulous views of Honolulu and the Pacific from the state park up there. Then we visited the Bishop Museum, had dinner, walked Kalakua Drive, and spoke with our girls. We met the Shaheens (from Massachusetts) briefly at the museum and have made plans for dinner Tuesday night. Meaghan was Erica's roommate at Ithaca College; John and Maureen live about an hour south of us in central Massachusetts. Today was warm and overcast, with showers up in the rainforest on Roundtop.

On Friday we drove east and south from the Bay Area to Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley to visit my brother Ron, his wife Susan, and their two daughters, Emily and Katie. While driving along Rt. 580 we received the first of many telephone calls from our watchful neighbors, Gil and Alice and Jim and Mary, who notified us of an unpleasant development back in Keene. During a fierce windstorm a tree in an abutting yard had fallen against a power line that supplies electricity to that house as well to as ours and Gil and Alice’s. The first house lost power, while an electrical surge damaged a transformer up on a pole across the street and caused major problems in our house and in Gil and Alice’s. The Keene Fire Department arrived and the circuit breakers in our house and in Gil and Alice’s were shut down, turning off our heating systems. Gil and Jim visited our house repeatedly to monitor the situation, and we exchanged many phone calls Friday and Saturday. Outside temperatures fell into the twenties Friday night but were expected to reach zero degrees Saturday night. The temperature in our house was falling slowly but steadily, but by Saturday afternoon it had fallen only to the mid-fifties. Apparently our house is very well insulated, but it was also becoming clear that Public Service Company of NH would not repair the transformer and restore a normal electricity supply to our houses before the outside temperatures fell to zero degrees tonight, and it seemed wise to drain our pipes and plumbing before that happened. Therefore, at 3 pm we authorized Davis Oil to shut off our water supply and to purge our heating and plumbing system. Gil and Jim facilitated their entry into our house and watched over this process.

Our house is now “winterized” and should be able to withstand many sub-freezing nights. We will lose our houseplants, but at least we won’t have to worry about our house as we prepare to fly to Hawaii tomorrow morning. We’re very lucky to have such attentive and generous neighbors and hope that Gil and Alice’s heating and electricity are restored soon. I asked Jim to tell Gil that he could take some of the seasoned wood from our front porch for their wood stove.



We did have a great visit with Ron and Susan and Emily and Katie. Wish I had half as much energy as those girls!

Driving back from Fresno we saw an adult bald eagle perched on a fence post only a few feet from the pavement of California Highway 152, about 20 miles east of Los Banos and 1 mile east of the San Joaquin River. There are many wetlands a few miles away, but the nearby landscape was pretty dry. I wonder if bald eagles ever eat road kill… Upon returning to Castro Valley, we joined C’Anna and David and our nephew Alex for a nice walk at Lake Chabot. We saw several banana slugs and a salamander in a swampy area. The sun was shining brightly but the sky was filled with dramatic clouds.

Tomorrow – off to Hawaii!

We got up at 4:30 am Wednesday, April 15, to catch our limo ride to Logan Airport. We enjoyed an easy and uncomplicated flight from Boston to San Francisco. Lynn sat next to a delightful lady from Carlisle, MA, part of a large contingent of Coldwell-Banker agents and brokers heading to San Francisco for a company-wide conference. American Airlines provides no leg room for anyone over 5 feet 8 inches, so 74-inch Ken endured the customary transcontinental discomfort. During the flight we watched “Walk the Line,” the cinematic biography of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The acting and singing were excellent.

We drove our rental car across the San Mateo/Hayward Bridge into Castro Valley, just east of Oakland and Hayward in the East Bay, where we are staying with my sister, C’Anna, and her husband, David. Thursday, Lynn and I took a 3-hour hike/bird-walk in Redwood Park, onen of the great East Bay regional parks. Thursday evening, C’Anna and David took us into San Francisco for “Beach Blanket Babylon,” a long-running musical review that incorporates current events (such as the Cheney quail-hunting episode) into a campy account of Snow White’s search for a prince. Today (Friday) we’ll drive down to Fresno to visit my brother Ron and his wife, Susan, and daughters Emily and Katie.

The images show that spring is arriving already in California, though temperatures here have been quite cool (low 50’s by day with frost at night).

I'm loading a few images on this page to see how readily I can post large jpgs, trying to anticipate how many pictures I can upload while on the road.

The first image is 1024 x 768 pixels (about 900 kb). I'm standing in Charlie Darwin's back yard at Down House, in Downe, Kent, England (June 2004). [It took over one minute to upload that image file from my G4 PowerBook over a RoadRunner cable connection.]

The second image is larger - a 2272 x 1704 pixel image of a wood frog (~2 MB). This one took about 90 seconds to upload.

The third image is smaller - 800 x 540 pixels (440 KB). It shows an unofficial homeland defense vehicle seen in Pt. Reyes, CA, a couple of years ago. This file took only 30 seconds to upload.

The last picture, taken during a visit to Hyde Park, NY, shows the intrepid travelers.