Hey everyone! It’s Kayla here to share this week’s blog 
Our week was filled with plenty of aloha here on Hōlanikū! As we finished up the remaining “hard” plots together as a team, we had plenty of time to work on our other side projects. Continued staking, marine debris, and bird surveys have kept us busy around the island. Not only did we do our bi-weekly shorebird survey and weekly Booby monitoring, but we also were able to conduct a koloa pōhaka, or Laysan Duck, survey to monitor the population on the island. With some rainy days, it was the perfect time to see the ducks out and about foraging.
Nick, the visionary that he is, has been working on his own exciting personal project on top of his usual crew lead duties. Our Shed isn’t always the most inviting place. Commonly filled with prospecting Paper and Metallic wasps, it is also where everything gets “temporarily” moved out of the wind. With all our projects going on, Nick has needed a place to do handiwork, and the Shed’s well-used folding table, which is starting to show its wear, has not made the cut. This week, Nick passionately made a new custom workbench from available supplies, and let’s just say it is priceless. The Shed seems a little brighter with Nick’s new addition, and hopefully, it will be appreciated by many teams to come.
Although February hasn’t exactly brought warmer days, we are starting to see the return of the many seabirds that call Hōlanikū home. Each week more and more birds are filling the skies above our little island. I would say it is quite the sight to see, but in reality it’s more of a cacophonous revelry to hear. It’s crazy thinking back to October before the Albatross returned when the island was eerily quiet on windless days. Now there isn’t a second of silence! Koaʻe ʻula / Red-tailed Tropicbirds perform exciting aerial mating displays with backwards flying and harsh squawking. Pākalakala / Gray-backed Terns are seen in pairs or small groups calling to each other far overhead. ʻEwaʻewa / Sooty Terns will never be unnoticed as we hear more and more voices each day. We may not be able to see the Sootys, but we can hear them all day and all night. Of course we cannot forget the Albatross chatter as the chicks continue to grow bigger in the blink of an eye. Finally, if you listen hard, you can also hear the ‘Iwa / Great Frigatebirds’ unique drumming sounds as the males fill their gular sacks with air in hopes of attracting the females flying overhead.
A special sight that Nick and I were lucky enough to see this week was 5 species of ʻĀ / Boobies at the same time! During the shorebird survey, Nick was absolutely stoked to see the Nazca Booby and a pair of Cocos Boobies, along with our main 3 species (Masked, Red-footed, and Brown) in the North Point area of the island. This is an incredibly rare sight that we are so thankful to see on Hōlanikū!
Back to our human inhabitants, recreation lately has been movies, movies, movies! We have definitely been watching our fair share of Rom-Coms, some immensely better than others. We watched “Valentine’s Day” on Valentine’s Day and we all enjoyed it very much. We also broke out Kure-opoly this weekend, ending in a win for Nick. Let it be known that Nick and I agreed to end the game as both Delia and Jordan were bankrupt and although it could have been a tie I was nice enough to allow Nick to claim victory, despite it being pretty neck and neck lol.
Highlights: Kayla’s donuts, Delia’s brownies, Jordan saw honu at pier
Bird Highlights: 5 boobies!, Red-tailed Tropicbird on eggs, first White Tern chick, influx of Sooty and Gray-backed Terns, Tristram’s Storm-Petrels on chicks, deceased Leach’s Storm-Petrel found (cause unknown)
