We’re now at the end of an all too brief visit to Honolulu, a 5 hour leap from Japan, rendering our body clocks somewhat confused. No sleep on the flight from Tokyo, too much spicy airline food, together with the aforesaid time differential initially resulted in feelings of nausea, lack of balance and general malaise. However, all seems well now as I sit here with windows of our room open, allowing the rhythmic crashing of the waves on Waikiki Beach to create a soporific effect over this carcass of mine. I can look out at the bright blue Pacific, complete with its raft of surfers, and see the fronds of the palm trees rippling in the gentle breeze. A guitarist is mellowly strumming away from the hotel bar area just below. Life is good.
No doubt against hotel rules, I’ve arrayed a line of leftovers from our breakfast on the balcony, where at this very moment, a perky Red-vented Bulbul has arrived to tuck in. Earlier, some House Finches took their fill and I’m sure various other opportunistic birds have done the same. The two species I’ve just mentioned are not native to the Hawaiian islands, in fact you would be hard pressed to find endemic species here on Oahu. Most have been erased by introduced imposters or by other activities of man. However, one rather pleasing aspect of the local avifauna is the presence, in good numbers, of Fairy Terns, that is White Terns (Gygis alba). If you’ve been reading this blog regularly you will recall we commenced our trip with close up views of this very same species in the Seychelles, a much different island in a different ocean thousands of miles away. A Fairy Circle. The presence of these dainty and graceful terns, locally named Manu o Ku, is something of an anomaly. They breed on the uninhabited islands in the north west of the archipelago, but nowhere on the main islands except here in Honolulu, the most built up, and you would think, most hostile environment they could possibly choose. But, here they are, and indeed they are well received with the bird being accorded the accolade of official bird of the city and county of Honolulu.
As far as I can discover, Fairy Terns turned up here as a solitary breeding pair sometime during the 1960s. They found the place so much to their liking that the population has now grown to over 2,000 individuals. It is a little incongruous to see them pursuing one another up and down the Main Street against the backdrop of high rise hotels, but they are obviously very much at home. They lay their egg simply on the branch of a tree with no nest, so it is inevitable that some young chicks will tumble to the ground. Happily, a Manu o Ku hotline has been implemented, providing a facility for the public to report any downed chicks which will be rescued and cared for by staff at Honolulu Zoo for eventually release back into the wild. A worthy citizen science initiative, but essentially these birds don’t really need help; the few remaining indigenous species are the ones that would benefit from a bit of TLC, but that’s all a little more difficult and one feels their fate is ultimately doomed.
We visited the zoo yesterday, which to be honest was a little shabby and unkempt, harking back to zoos of old with small enclosures and pretty basic standards of maintenance and care. There is a good deal of educational information regarding the perils of alien invasives, indeed some of these undesirables are on show., but it’s all too late Hawaii, the damage has already been done. The zoo area does, however, occupy a large patch of peacefully green space to the east of the city and is a very good place to catch sight of some local (largely introduced, but naturalised) wildlife.
Birds are actually plentiful. So well adapted are they that you could be forgiven for thinking they have occupied their niche in step with the island’s evolution. Not so. There are jaunty and musically vociferous Common Mynas (from Asia), equally vocal and plentiful Red-vented Bulbuls (Indian subcontinent), small Zebra Doves (South-east Asia) that shuffle around surreptitiously in the grass, Japanese White-eyes (Japan – where else) zipping about in the shrubs, House Sparrows (Europe) in abundance, Red-headed Cardinals (South America) adding a lovely splash of colour and tiny Waxbills (Africa) that feed on any seeds they can find. It’s all a little strange when everything you see doesn’t really belong. Or perhaps it does. Maybe this is simply a demonstration of how specialist island species are extremely vulnerable to any outside competition. A case of survival of the fittest and most adaptable.
A few native butterflies, amalgamations of bright yellow, gold and black sped around but none landed within camera shot. A few lizards, whether native or introduced I know not, displayed to one another from tree stumps and we did find a large, indigenous land snail of which there are several species, all doing ok.
If you’re not into birds, butterflies and land snails, no problem; there is other plentiful wildlife to be found on the beach. Covering those golden sands are creatures of every shape, size and colour, most attired in minimalist plumage. Oh yes my friends, there are certainly a plethora of brown boobies to be found here and not only on the females. Waikiki is a sun worshippers paradise and I will miss falling to sleep with the window open, being lulled into slumber by the Pacific breakers. I will miss too awakening to the sight of massed surfers eager to catch that big wave. I will miss strolling along the prom, lazily looking around the souvenir shops full of colourful island shirts and dresses, I will certainly miss the laid back, casual nature of it all. Perhaps most of all I will miss the decadence of the Pink Lady, the hotel we have wanted to stay in for 40 years since we first visited this place as youngsters in our mid 20s. Then, we could barely afford to buy a simply but fantastic pastel picture of Marilyn Monroe, completed as we watched by a young Iranian artist. He wanted $50 for this masterpiece, a sum that we could only just scrape together, and left us penniless, or centless I should say. We never dreamt that four decades later we would be able to stay in this iconic hotel overlooking one of the most famous beaches on the planet. We do realise how very lucky we are, and we do appreciate every moment……even through the jet lag.
In the meantime we must soon leave this island paradise, a fleeting visit paid, and move extraneously towards home. However, there may be the odd noteworthy episode before we return to Blighty, so keep tuning in. Florida next, where I expect to be even more shattered with time zone disease, but we soldier on.
each time i read about Hawaii it shocks me that the richest country in the world would decimate its own wildlife at the expense of generic species from around the world. yet again another blog shedding light on our natural world. good luck in Florida!
I think the damage was done well before it became the 50th state, but you’re right. It would have been good to have been able to visit the Larsen Albatross colony on the other side of the island though, but birding trips there were very expensive. Florida has even bigger problems with non natives – the number of pythons and anacondas in the Everglades is staggering. They have wiped out native mammals and birds.
Sad what has/is happening to the native wildlife! Just read all your blogs back to back to catch up. Highly entertaining – I can see a book in the making!