Part I showed what we have done in the last 10 years at the restoration site. What lessons did we learn in that time that may help for the next 10 years?

Part I showed what we have done in the last 10 years at the restoration site. What lessons did we learn in that time that may help for the next 10 years?
I’m going to try something a bit different. I got the inspiration for doing this from the 1 comment in the ‘aka’aka’awa post. Internet searches can and are wonderful ways to find out about native Hawaiian plants and animals. But images can only go so far. If I can add a little bit of natural history or personal experience with certain taxa maybe I can help folks gain a greater appreciation for the biota we share theses islands with. So having said that, let’s talk about Olomea (Perrottetia sandwicensis)!
Continue readingIt seems like yesterday I walked into the native forest on Tantalus. It is a memory that sticks out clearly in my mind; June 20, 2010. And in a seeming instant, a decade has past.
Continue readingIt has been over a year since I last posted. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the blog going into the future. In the meantime, I visited Texas for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed the grackles in the city.
Great tailed grackles (Quiscaulus mexicanus) are a very common bird in urban San Antonio. I saw hundreds roosting on powerlines along the various highways around the city. Now coming from Hawai’i, we just don’t have birds of this size commonly seen in town.
This successful bird highlights the many challenges facing future of human/animal interactions. For many residence of the town, grackles are a nuisance. Their droppings make a mess of vehicles and property. Grackles have been called loud and annoying.
There is also a question of their native status. They seemed to have greatly expanded their range inland in the beginning of the 20th century. Davis (1940) listed great tailed grackles as vagrants to Brazos County. By 1951 Petrides & Davis listed them as resident. Their range seems to still be expanding as human continue to develop urban areas.
Another year, and the questions still remain the same; how do we share this planet that we live on? Someday, I hope we have to worry about the hordes of ‘i’iwi and ‘akiapolo’au raining droppings on our cars. Those are the problems I’d much rather be solving. Happy New Year’s to all!
If you are of a particular age cohort, you will remember the sensation that was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Lauded, then cliched, for its plot twist, the movie was also known for Haley Joel Osment’s famous utterance: “I see dead people.” I bring this up here at Studia Mirabilium not because I’m doing a movie review but because it is a great cultural shorthand for how I describe the scientific reconstruction that my mind’s eye does. For while I don’t see dead people… I do see dead birds. Namely the extinct ones.
One nice thing for me when I travel is seeing how local fauna have adapted to the human condition. While this is a common sight in many parts of the world, Hirundinidae (Swallows, Martins) aren’t found in Hawai’i. Many species have a long benign relationship with people due to their superb aerial hawking of unwanted insects. I’m not an expect but this might be a common Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica). The very name highlights its relationship with people and their structures.
But it’s one thing to nest in a rural, undeveloped barn.
This pair decided to nest in the decidedly unrural Jeonju Bus Terminal! Buses honking, people jostling, luggage thrown about, yet there were enough food and resources that these birds thought this was the perfect place to raise a family. Sharing the planet at its finest!
This dainty little endemic fern is ‘oali’i makali’i (Schizaea robusta). I came across it near the summit of Konahuanui. Interestingly, the frond is mostly made up of just the stipe; the blades are only found the very distal portion. This rather unique look gives it another colloquial name: the toothbrush fern. Keep an eye for it on wet summit and boggy areas.
So here are some seedlings from a plant with uncertain affiliations. Currently it is part of Psychotria kaduana. But it was originally described as Psychotria longissima and has a much longer, droopy inflorescence. There is much work to be done with the genetics of the native Psychotria radiation here in Hawai’i. It remains to be seen whether this is a distinct population or not.
In the meantime, I’m playing it safe. While one of the more well known supposed P. longissima trees flowers consistently, last year was the first time I saw that tree produce fruit. With the expertise and TLC from the seed lab, they germinated!
They’ve been in the ground a few weeks but they’re looking good! So, whether or not it is a genetically distinct population, there will be more droopy kopiko on Pu’u ‘Ohia.
“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Sebastian? You’re comparing a hike into some of the most intact native forest on O’ahu to a sappy Nicholas Sparks book?! There are relictual native species in the area that the general public rarely gets to see and this is how we get to hear about them… wait, don’t tell me you cried?” Well…yes, yes I did…
*From Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i