page six
Christmas odyssey to Hawaii
By Lynn Moseley
With a loud squawk, a tiny,
brilliant vermillion and black
bird hurtled past us through the
mists of the mountainous
slopes. An iiwi\ Finally, we had
spotted our first native Hawai
ian bird.
The sighting of this incredible
species, complete with long,
salmon-colored bill, marked one
of the highlights of nine days in
Hawaii that my husband, Phil,
and I spent over Christmas
break. Former graduate school
colleagues now on the faculty of
Linfield College in Oregon and
the University of Puget Sound
had invited me to give a lecture
on Hawaiian seabirds to their
month-long winter term course,
"Marine Biology of Hawaii."
In return for my contribution,
Phil and I were provided with
free accommodations on the
island of Maui in a luxury
condominium (complete with
sauna, jacuzzi, swimming pool),
which we shared with our hosts.
Our Hawaiian adventure ac
tually began on the island of
Oahu. We arrived in Honolulu
on December 31 to spend four
days with another friend from
graduate school days who works
as a post-doc on a project
L
Tom Diez will be narrator for two Audubon films being presented
January 30 at the Centenary United Methodist Church at 8 p.m.
Audubon films featured Wednesday
The T. Gilbert Pearson Chap
ter of the National
Society will present the follo
wing films in association with
the Piedmont Bird Club, Jan.
30, 8 p.m. at the Centenary
United Methodist Church, 2300
W. Friendly Ave.
Northwest
Adventures
A film to pack your backpack
by, Tom Diez's Northwest Ad
ventures is a 40 minute capsule
of wildlife, wilderness, camp
ing, fishing and exploring in the
wilds of the great Northwest.
The tour takes one first
through the bush country of
British Columbia, Alberta and
the Yukon, a remote land of
spectacular scenery, home of
investigating dolphin communi
cation.
The research, directed by
Louis Herman of the University
of Hawaii's Psychology Depart
ment, is similar to previous
attempts to teach sign language
to chimpanzees. The dolphins
are being taught commands
using simple verbs and nouns
either by sign language or
computer-generated sounds.
Of course, the dolphins can
not themselves produce hand
signals, but they are being
taught to mimic the computer
sounds, the first step in two
way communication. To date
they can understand two and
three word sentences such as
"Ball Fetch" and "Ball Fetch
Gate" (meaning fetch the ball
to the gate).
The experimental design
used in the project has shown
clearly that the dolphins under
stand the importance of syntax
in the sentences they learn.
They respond differently to
"Ball Fetch Hoop" and "Hoop
Fetch Ball."
For the first four days of our
stay, we shared the Kewalo
Basin Marine Mammal Lab with
two lovely female dolphins,
Phoenix and Aketkamsi (Ha-
the majestic moose and elk and
territory of the black bear.
From there it's due north
from the mountains of southern
Alaska to the wild islands of the
Bering Sea, through the wilder
ness of a great and pristine
state, through Alaska's moun
tains, tundras, glaciers and
streams with all of their mam
mals, birds, fish and out
doorsmen.
Dall sheep, caribou, grizzly
bear and the delightful sea otter
are some of the wildlife feat
ured, and there is an amusing
sequence on the Alaskan brown
bears seeming somewhat less
than awesome as they fish -- or
try to ~ the wealth of a salmon
run.
Guilfordian
waiian for "Lover of Wisdom").
We spent a number of hours
playing with the dolphins, who
were housed in a large, deep
concrete pool. It was quite an
experience when, the first time
I gave the proper hand signal,
one of the dolphins swam up to
me and offered a pectoral fin to
shake!
Actually, the dolphins were
extremely sociable and ob
viously enjoyed human contact.
They loved being stroked,
rubbed under the chin and
having their tails gently pulled.
Five hours of jet lag not
withstanding, Phil and I stayed
up until midnight on December
31 to witness what must be one
of the world's grandest New
Year's Eve celebrations. From
the observation tower of the lab,
which overlooked the lights of
Waikiki and Diamond Head
under a full moon, we watched
and listened as the City of
Honolulu literally exploded!
Imagine the sound of several
million firecrackers ignited in
waves and echoing off the
mountain slopes. For at least
fifteen minutes, conversation
was nearly impossible!
The next few days were
considerably calmer (and quie
ter) as we explored Oahu to the
extent that the island's fine bus
system permitted. For fifty
cents, one can ride the bus
literally around the island.
We enjoyed visiting the
Bishop Museum, which houses
a collection of artifacts from the
various cultures that have popu
lated the islands; Sea Life Park,
with its excellent collection of
tropical fish and fine seabird
sanctuary (we had our first view
of six oceanic bird species
here); the sights and sounds of
Waikiki; and the Honolulu Zoo,
where we barely missed meet
ing Gail Wine, a Guilford
graduate and close friend of
Pete and Lucretia Moore.
We found the life style on
Oahu to be very relaxed (even
businessmen wear "aloha
shirts" to work!), heavily in
fluenced by oriental cultures,
and blessed with a lovely cli
mate. We were surprised to
learn that the yearly average
temperature range is less than
14 degrees, and during our stay
the daily highs and lows were
about 79 and 70 degrees re-
Adventures in
Penn's Woods
Truly one of the more beauti
ful and interesting states,
Pennsylvania is the setting for
this program. Areas visited
include Pymatuning Lake and
Swamp, Hawk Mountain Sanc
tuary and Pennsylvania's Grand
Canyon.
Explore the mountains, for
ests, marshes and streams to
enjoy the many forms of wild
life which live in the Keystone
State. Featured are stories on
live-trapping beaver in the
swamps, ravens which nest on
the rugged cliffs of Fulton
County, trout fishing, and a
remarkable story about a man
and a heard of deer in the
mountains of Potter County.
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ji if
The iiwi, one of Hawaii's most brilliant native honey creepers,
can only be spotted after a hearty trek into the Hawaiian bush.
spectively.
Honolulu, with its 300,000
inhabitants, is in every way a
major city, although cleaner and
greener than most on the main
land. We were impressed with
the racial variety, and found
Caucasians to be in the minority
outside of touristy Waikiki.
We were disappointed to
learn of the devastation of
native plants and wildlife that
has resulted from excessive
development and the introduc
tion of foreign species. The
problem is so severe that today
on Oahu, no native species of
plants or birds are found below
an elevation of 1500 feet.
The fragile island ecosystems
are diminishing rapidly, with
native species unable to com
pete with those introduced. The
most common birds of Honolulu
are the house sparrow, the
pigeon, and the common my
nah, all of which were intro
duced within the last 115 years.
Since we certainly didn't
travel almost 6000 miles just to
see piegons, we looked forward
to our visit to Maui. Known as
the Valley Isle, Maui is a figure
eight-shaped island formed by
the union of two originally
separate volcanoes.
The valley between the two
craters is planted extensively in
sugar cane and pineapple, the
first and third most important
cash crops in Hawaii (the sec
ond is marijuana, locally known
as "Maui Wowee").
Although Maui has its share
of resort hotels and condomi
niums, it's no Waikiki, and is
noted especially for two fea
tures. The first is the pictures
que town of Lahaina (remember
Michener's Hawaii?), famed as
the home port of the Pacific
whaling fleet in the 1800's. The
restuarants and shops convey a
nineteenth century whaling at
mosphere, and an active resto
ration process continues the
theme.
Current interest in whales is
maintained by the annual mi
gration of humpback whales
from the North Pacific to the
warm waters off the islands to
mate and give birth. Whale
watching is a popular activity
during January and February.
At 10,000 feet, before day
light, with a wind-chill factor of
about 15 degrees, Maui was no
tropical paradise! But the chan-
January 79, 1980
Photo by Cathy Tillman
ging colors, the lights and
shadows in the crater provided
a stunning spectacle well worth
the effort and the cold.
After daybreak, we hiked the
trail at beautiful Hosmer's
Grove (elevation 7,000 feet). It
was there on the trail, over
looking a valley of red-flowered
Ohia trees, that we located
several species of 29 native
birds, members of the family
Drepanididae, or honeycree
pers.
Known only by their Hawai
ian names [iiwi, apapane],
these birds are descendants of a
single ancestral species that
colonized the islands several
million years ago. Just as
Darwin's finches diversified on
the Galapagos Islands, the
honeycreepers underwent adap
tive radiation in Hawaii to
become over twenty distinct
species.
Our stay of Maui ended on an
adventurous note, with the arri
val of a two-day winter storm
(the worst since 1918) which
caused flash floods, damage in
the harboros, and loss of power
to the entire island.
The road to the airport was
closed, and only some fast
talking by our group enabled us
to get around the police barri
cade and slowly pick our way
over the wave-washed highway.
It was an exhilirating end to our
Hawaiian odyssey.
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