A Place of Many Perches

We recently spent a fabulous weekend at Hakalau, a national wildlife refuge off Mana Road on the windward side Mauna Kea. Our group planted around 1,000 koa trees on Saturday. Two good friends that I rarely see were there, and everyone in the group was a pleasure to spend time with. We used power tools, we got dirty, then we rode in the back of an old Army truck in the rain. If that didn't make me happy enough, Baron, the guy in charge of the volunteer program, made us a fantastic dinner of mahi mahi and Portuguese bean soup.

Most folks stayed in the cabin, but I was happier in my tent. We watched the moon set behind the mountain and thousands of stars emerge. I was expecting temperatures in the 40's, but it never got that cold. At dawn, I was awakened by a noisy nene. The fwap, fwap, fwap of his wings pierced the morning's silence. When I emerged from my tent he honked at me.

In addition to seeing at least 20 nene (the endangered state bird of Hawaii) we saw rare I`o, apapane and i`iwi. A chorus of bird calls rang throughout Hakalau, the forest whose name means land of many perches.

In the greenhouse we saw some super-rare plants, like Phyllostegia brevidens, a type of mint that was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the refuge in 1990. Three plants now survive in the wild. We also checked out the Pua Akala cabin, a seven room cabin that was built entirely of koa wood in 1883.Grafitti on the front of the cabin was dated 1901. This was a weekend well spent!

Chris poses by the Army truck:

Carolyn & power tools.

Andi with nene. Endangered species are more exciting when they don't act so tame!