{"id":357,"date":"2013-01-30T09:46:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T19:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/?p=357"},"modified":"2013-01-31T10:22:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T20:22:44","slug":"the-living-birds-of-makauwahi-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/?p=357","title":{"rendered":"The (Living) Birds of Makauwahi Cave"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy in the midst of the long list of extinct birds from Makauwahi Cave to forget that there are also plenty of \u201cfossil\u201d birds that are still living, and even making a comeback of sorts, right by the cave. \u00a0I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago, leading a group of visitors down the nature trail, when we saw a pair of Laysan Albatross circling low overhead, finally disappearing down into the abandoned quarry \u2013 perhaps scouting out a new colony?<\/p>\n

\nI\u2019ve also been reminded of this lately as our 13 new lo`i pondfields have filled up one by one and become a major new stop-off for our local Hawaiian Stilts and Koloa Ducks, two highly endangered water birds with bones among our fossils. \u00a0Also stopping by are the endangered state bird, the Nene, one of the first examples of a successfully \u201crewilded\u201d species in the U.S. \u00a0It occurs as a common fossil in the cave deposits, but was extinct historically on Kaua`i. \u00a0When released in 1982, it spread rapidly on Kaua`i, at least in part because of the absence of the mongoose on the Garden Isle.<\/p>\n

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\nIn the air over the cave any day, you are likely to see White-tailed Tropic Birds, which have nested successfully in the west wall of the sinkhole for many years, as attested by the pile of their bones on a high ledge beneath their favorite nest-spot. \u00a0Coursing up and down the beach, watch, too, for two species of boobies, as well as the Black Noddy flying by, and the local sandpiper, the Wandering Tattler \u2013 all creatures of our sediments, but also our present-day skies and beaches.<\/p>\n

\nAnd \u00a0everywhere, even the most casual birder can see — from inside the sinkhole to the dry or flooded lo`i, to any opening in the growing forests of our restorations — \u00a0that great jet-setter of our winter birds, the Kolea, or Pacific Golden Plover, summering and breeding in Canada and Alaska, and enjoying the mild Kaua`i winter with us. \u00a0Their abundant bones in the sediments of the cave serve to remind us that the Kolea\u2019s vacation route has apparently not changed for thousands of years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy in the midst of the long list of extinct birds from Makauwahi Cave to forget that there are also plenty of \u201cfossil\u201d birds that are still living, and even making a comeback of sorts, right by the cave. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406,"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cavereserve.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}