This past week on Hōlanikū was a reminder of why we’re here—celebration, teamwork, and aloha ʻāina. Mahalo to our amazing volunteers! This work wouldn’t be possible without all who mālama and care for this special place. Enjoy our latest field blog from Nick!
Aloha all,
Makahiki winds have certainly arrived in our neck of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, bringing in the tens of thousands of albatross that will breed this year on Kure. Hopefully, everyone has gotten the chance to see our recent Hanohano videos – we’ve been having a lot of fun putting them together, giving folks an opportunity to get a glimpse of the ʻāina that we are fortunate to wake up to every day.
We’ve had a great week! We finished another Scheduler, or sweep of the island, in our hunt for Verbesina encelioides and other pestilent vegetation. I’ll attach a map of our treatment coverage – we definitely get around town in a short period of time.
Speaking of short periods of time, this is a very special blog as it marks the 6-month marker for myself, Jordan, and Kayla’s time on Kure, as well as Delia’s first full month. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.
I want to give a special shoutout to the trio of hardworking, dedicated volunteers who are out here. Our conservation work depends on those willing not only to dedicate their time to this mission but also to fulfill the kuleana, or responsibility and privilege, of protecting this special place from habitat degradation. So please extend a warm mahalo with me to Delia, Jordan, and Kayla for all that they do.
Our joint six/one month celebration was a birria-style taco dinner with a strawberry cake for dessert. On the menu tonight was a lasagna by Kayla, with some lemon ice cream for dessert. Jordan cheffed up his famed biscuits for Sunday breakfast, and Delia tried her hand at yogurt! I’d also like to note that Delia always seems to be crafting up something sapid in the kitchen. She recently made some sort of protein ball that was nothing short of piquant.
In non-food camp life, we finished watching Severance, I’ve been reading albatross bands in my spare time, there’s been some ab workouts that I’ve refused to take part in, we watched Surf’s Up (a 2007 animated film about penguin surfing (field camp classic)), and we’ve been showing Delia our favorite games.
Finally, the much-anticipated bird news of the week: Pectoral Sandpiper showed up this week, and I spotted an offshore Short-tailed Shearwater (very cool). There was also a Ka’upu / Black-footed Albatross that was banded in Japan! Still waiting to hear back about age/location, but it was not a USGS band. Thanks for reading.
A hui hou!
Nick
