RIVER TRAINING DECEMBER 2012

December 2012

Winter training on Hanalei River

            So the blog is largely about my activities unless Gil is paddling.  Only because we usually don’t have photos to support his daily role as the Prince of Princeville in home repairs.   
            Oddly, one thing we have always noticed is that topics needing attention come in clumps.  When I was in practice, I would have several different people show up with shoulder afflictions, for instance.  Well, it occurs in home afflictions as well.  Gil will be called to several homes in a row for leaky faucets, or this week it was propane tanks for BBQ grills  - three of them; unrelated.  Go figure.

            Anyway in an effort to have him present in the blog I went to the Hanalei Bridge to watch  him to come up river on his one-man outrigger.  He has been training with one of the club's coaches, Togo.  For those familiar with the location of the bridge, it is very near the taro fields of Hanalei Valley where I often work with wetland birds.

Waiting for Gil & Togo to reach me, I enjoyed all the other traffic above and below the one lane bridge and across in the taro.

 Hawaiian Coot with white frontal shield obvious

Hawaiian Moorhen with red frontal shield 

a little sun glare gives this photo a smoky look

Hawaiian Goose or Nene  
He looks like he's in the water but actually standing on the dike

            Lining my shot up, I practiced on some other river folk before they passed under the bridge.  And while I was at it, I got the cars crossing, too.

This stand-up paddler happened to look up as I snapped

Kayaking - I think this is the stand-up kid's dad, mom's kayak was stuck in the bushes

With a good steersman, it's fun  to dodge the tourists in a 6-man canoe

This is Jason steering for Hanalei Canoe Club 

Cars can only go in one direction on this bridge, so they take turns

The down-hill row will start now

Gil & Togo

            Here they come.  Under the bridge heading for the wire where the river gets too overgrown and shallow to continue.   They will return to the bridge and then turn around for another run to the wire and back – sprinting from one telephone pole to the next.  

They were moving along at a pretty good clip here 

They picked up more speed for this leg

Back toward the bridge where heart-rate monitors will be checked

Meanwhile on the bank, the coot has chased the moorhen out of the pond while the nene looks on.

 Later I saw the same coot chase three other moorehens out of the pond

Bit of a bully

                 Traffic on the bridge is non stop, a sunny Sunday in Hanalei

By the time Gil & Togo head back again, three of the club’s girls are heading upstream too.  Busy on the river.  We have all been seeing more large sea turtles upriver this year than ever before and of course if we go early enough, we might see buffalo grazing above us in the pasture.

There is no organized practice in the winter - only the hard core keep up their training,

the ones that think training is just fun! 

 Here they come again, hogging the road, hitting it hard

Last run down river - about 2 1/4 miles to the club

Holiday Rental Cars 

            Notice the cars waiting for the bridge – one event of the holidays was that the island ran out of rental cars.  A friend of ours reserved a car for a month and when she got here they told her she could have it for two weeks so she is walking, and loving it.  Another friend gave her sister her car and she is riding a wreck of a bike.  They said cars would be available in a coupe days and the day rate would be $225!  ‘Tis the season.

Hanalei Pier

            In July I posted a note at the end of the Open Water Swim event about the local Rotary Club raising money to restore the roof on the pier.  They got the money, they got the tear-down complete and the materials ordered.  Guess what?  The state has now offered to reimburse them the costs and will put up the new roof!  If you want it done, do it yourself.  The state was just happy to avoid the red tape.

The Naked Pier 

Notice the stand up boards waiting for students to learn the sport.  

Broken

            The weather has fluctuated between cloudy and chilly with rain to bright, hot sun.  The surf has also disappeared or been really big.  It’s (almost) all good.

EARLY DECEMBER – COLORADO

            I made a quick trip to Denver the first week of December.  I wasn’t too interested in mountain driving with snow and ice.  Sooooo, I booked Amtrak to get me from Denver to Grand Junction in order to visit Mom (Thelma) who just turned 97.

          Even after the red-eye flight, I walked the city with a friend and enjoyed all the lights that evening and we spent the night at Denver's Oxford Hotel, a refurbished city landmark near the train station.  

Denver's Civic Center

The lighting scheme changes through greens, blues, purples, whites, golds, etc.

the Oxford Hotel in front of Union Station

Ironically, the train station is due for remodel and is closed for 2 years!

The hotel shuttled me to the train next morning

            The Amtrak trip was fantastic, hadn’t done it since I was 12!  What a relaxing way to travel; recliner seats have leg rests and curtains if you want to nap, the lounge car has large windows, the café has junk food all day, the dining car has white tablecloths and no plastic flatware.

Lounge car with swivel seats and mega views

Travelling at 20 mph affords great scenic beauty but many pics were blurred 

a new learning curve

Dining car between meals

What does Colorado have to do with Oceantics? 

All snowmelt and waters from the west side of the Continental Divide go to the Pacific Ocean; weird that the fresh snow I was seeing might end up in my back yard on Kauai.

            The train winds through canyons of the Rockies along the Fraser River, a major tributary to the Colorado River.  The tracks then follow the Colorado river through old worn volcanic features to the western edge of the state before heading on into Utah. 

Byers Canyon 

 Pit stops are for smokers and leg stretching but five minutes is really quick

 Ski season hadn't really kicked off yet

Still in rockies

           Once I got to Montrose, I visited Mom several times, had lunches and dinners between keeping her routine at the residence.  I took an early morning hike in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, just a few miles from her.  (see Mother’s Day post from May 2012).  A  big storm was due in, it was cloudy but I dressed warm – it was great. 

The moody canyon

by the time I put an extra layer on, it was starting to lift

Trail on left heading down

             There were parts of the trail I wished I had skis on as I crabbed my way down 400 feet, crunchy snow over ice.

 Oak Flat Loop had oaks and it was a loop - not sure where the flat came from

Oak leaves

            I was relieved when I started back up on the loop.  I still had a big day ahead of me.  The air was incredible, intermittent view of the canyon very exciting.

 Oaks above the canyon

Heading back up (winding trail visible below)

            Driving back down toward town I looked for deer and found them happily grazing.  Going to Colorado is usually my big animal fix.

A mule deer in her winter coat

           In the afternoon I took mom up to the canyon to drive along the rim.  We ventured out to one overlook, with the wheeled walker.  Then as promised, we stopped at the visitor center for hot chocolate and more views from the interior.

HI MOM

A little more snow on the return trip  

that water will eventually make its way to the Pacific

KOLOA DUCK RESEARCH IN HANALEI – AGAIN

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2012

KOLOA DUCK RESEARCH IN HANALEI – AGAIN

            Birds have always fascinated man with their ability to do something man cannot: FLY.  It is for this reason we still know so very little about them.  Being the primary wildlife of the islands, I’ve developed a keen interest in these feathered friends.  Since I live in Princeville between wildlife refuges at Kilauea and Hanalei I am very lucky to be around so many critters that are considered rare, the Hawaiian Duck, or Koloa being one of them. 

            Koloas are shy and flush from their wetland home with the slightest human noise – walking within thirty feet of them causes them to take off.   I met Christopher Malachowski last year on a wetland tour, a masters student from Oregon State University.  He was in Hanalei to set up blinds in the wetlands and observe the ducks.  
            Later I spent one day with him while he took data including blood samples for DNA from a few he had trapped.  Kauai has the purest remaining strain of the little plain brown Koloa ducks. They are on the borderline of extinction and the few remaining on other islands have nearly all become diluted into hybrids with Mallard ducks brought to the islands for hunting.

Chris with a spotter - Hanalei 2011

            Last month I jumped at the invite to participate in his current doctoral project.  This time he had 65 transmitters and a veterinarian on island to surgically implant them – these will help him gain data on their movements, the trickiest part of human/bird studies. 

            Refuge biologist, Kim Uyehara supervises the process taking place in Hanalei Refuge.  Chris continually improves his system and volunteers are recruited to record data as he measures and weighs.  Most of the volunteers are interns from Americorps with very few of us from outside the circle.  

            At sunrise we go to traps that were baited the prior evening.  As many as five traps are set throughout the wetlands.  The taro farmers start early so we try to stay ahead of them; the less commotion for the birds, the more comfortable they are.

The first trap to be checked is in the grassy pond at right of dyke

Chris and interns Marie and Kristina returning with duck crates and supports

At each trap any ducks are collected and placed in crates. Occasionally other birds are caught; they are released on the spot.  For the Koloas, males are placed in one crate and females in the other.  The large crates are returned to the dyke where the tail-gate station is set up, with a canopy if raining or if very hot out.  Sheets are placed over the crates to reduce stimulus, an effort to keep the birds calm.  One by one each birds stats are taken and recorded: weight, age determination, and overall health; each bird is banded.  Females are assessed first in order to quickly release any egg bearing or brooding females.

Coloration at wing (plumage) helps determine if a bird is a juvenile or an adult

The shortened stat sheet

Chris & Jimmy with w62
The USGS number on the aluminum band goes into an international data base 

for all banded birds, not just Koloa Ducks

            Key to the program is limiting stress for the individual birds.  Chris can do the stats for most birds in eight minutes.  If they are not candidates for transmitters, their data goes on file and they are released.  Birds receiving transmitters are caught, assessed, have the surgical implant and are released the same day!

Healthy, adult females without brood patches or eggs are candidates for transmitter implant and are placed in carriers after stats are taken and banding completed.  The carriers are set aside and covered so the birds remain calm.  Males are then assessed and released or set aside for transmitter duty.

Each empty carrier has a clean towel inside and 

there are a stack of clean towels to place over the carrier once the bird is inside

Birds caught that already have bands are cross-checked against a list of leg band numbers for their history.  If not transmitter candidates they are released.  Juvenile birds are released after stats and banding. 

Kim holds this one 'till he calms down then sets him on the water

Off he goes!

           Kim and I drove the new recruits to the lab where the veterinarian would do another assessment for health and take DNA tissue before implanting the VHF transmitter in a bird's abdomen.  We placed the incoming carriers on the porch to the right of the door with their seclusion towels in place.  

          Birds that had become alert after their surgery were in covered carriers to the left of the door.  Kim went on to a meeting and I drove the birds to the vicinity where they were captured for release (in the event they were from a pair). Overall time from capture to re-release was just under two hours.

With two to release, I just opened the carrier doors and uncovered them as I stepped back

They were gone before I could say "safe journey"

December 16, 2012

I volunteered two days in November before my trip to Colorado (see separate post).  After that trip, I worked the project on its final day of collecting.  Chris was hoping for females to receive the last two transmitters.

Kim on left, Chris on right, AmeriCorps intern Jimmy at center

The large orange crates are lined with mesh 

so there are no sharp edges for the birds to scrape.

Chris has placed large metal crates in the water for the orange ones to rest on

Males in one, females in the other

        All birds were processed with sex, approx. age, weight, wing length, bill length and width, leg length, fleshiness at chest, etc.  Two males were held as candidates in case no females met the criteria.  By the last trap only one female was chosen. 

I'm calming wMR before release

Of the two males, one was released and the other received a transmitter.

The female received a white band numbered MU.  

            At just a few grams, the transmitter weighs less than a portion of the daily food intake would weigh.

w MU getting the transmitter inserted

She will be out from under anaesthesia in minutes

            We don’t have an accurate count of the remaining Koloa Ducks.  We don’t know how far they fly and how many nest up river.  We don’t know for sure if they travel inter-island.  Collecting the data from the transmitters will not give all of these answers, but it will give some answers that may help dedicated conservationists determine how to protect the little endemics that took thousands of years to evolve before becoming game to humans. 

In 1900 Koloa ducks were still on all the large main islands.  As of the 1920s, the bag limit was 25 per day!  Hunting was prohibited in 1939 but much of their marshland habitat has now been commercially developed.  See earlier post regarding Avian Botulism that may be their biggest threat today.  Cross your fingers it is not too late.

This is what HOPE looks like