Students taking part in Kolea Watch

For ancient Polynesians, kolea (golden plover) and other migratory birds provided a sign that unknown lands lay beyond their island shores. Each year in April, these birds would gather into large flocks, depart and not return again until late in the summer. Marquesan seafarers may have first encountered the island chain that we call Hawai’i as they followed along the path set by kolea flying over thousands of miles of ocean towards Alaska.

Kaua’i’s students have an opportunity to learn more about the kolea while participating in Kolea Watch, a cooperative research project of the University of Hawai’i, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and other organizations.

Kolea can often be seen around school yards, as they collect insects and worms in open grassy spaces. They can also be seen along shorelines and wetlands. These birds are very territorial, and will return to the same site year after year.

They are so strongly attached to their feeding territory that they might starve to death if that territory was blocked off by a fence or building project.

Scientists are involving students in schools around the State as they try to find out more about Hawai’i’s golden plovers, which leave O’ahu within a day or two of April 25 to fly to their winter breeding grounds. Student counts are slated to begin April 14, and can be sent to the database at koleabird@hotmail.com.

Some questions that project designers hope to answer are: Do golden plover leave on the same day on the outer islands? Do they fly as one big flock? How do the young birds find their way back?

Gus Bodner, a graduate fellow in the K-12 program at U.H., was on Kaua’i recently to recruit people interested in participating in the Kolea Watch. Bodner can be reached at the database Web site given above, or by mail to: Gus Bodner UH Edm. 152, 2538 the Mall, Honolulu, HI 96822.

Another Web site that provides information on the program is: www.hawaii.edu/bird/