Birds of Hawaii. George C. Munro
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Puffinus pacificus cuneatus Salvin
Other names: Wedge-tailed Puffin; Moaning Bird (Midway).
Hawaiian names: Koto; Uau kani. (This latter name signifies the crying or noisy uau, and is probably much more correct than the spelling kane, commonly used in works on the Hawaiian birds.)
This is a white-breasted subspecies with Puffinus pacificus pacificus which nests in the Kermadec Islands and is there a brown bird. On the Revillagigedo Islands west of Mexico "both phases and all intergrades between them are found breeding together" (Oliver). On the islands off Oahu only about 5% of the number are brown-breasted, besides intermediates. There seem fewer of the brown-breasted phase in the Hawaiian Chain and more in a small group that were banded on Jarvis Island to the south.
It is 18 inches in length, brown above and white below with gray along the borders between the two colors; bill brown with slaty markings; legs and feet delicate white with dark markings on outside of tibia, very slight in some, grading to an almost entire delicate pearl gray of the whole leg and foot. The sexes differ little, the female being perhaps a little smaller than the male with thinner legs. The young in first 'plumage is not distinguishable from the adult. The newly hatched chick is a puffball of grayish down varying in shade from light to dark gray or light brown. A few adults show albinism slightly on the heads, one had the head almost all white.
Its ocean range is unknown, though probably not a great distance from the nesting islands. It nests in burrows on islands of the Hawaiian Chain, on islands off the main group and on Kauai near the sea and probably on Niihau. Undoubtedly it nested originally on all of the larger islands; not likely in the mountains as stated by some writers, but near the sea.
Ashore this bird does not stand on its feet but is always sitting on the ground. It advances by short runs. In rising it hops with both feet till above the surface. It flaps till clear then sails gracefully away. The birds arriving and departing at the breeding island fly round and round the site for a time before landing or taking off to sea. Their habit is to glide gracefully down the wind, wheel right around and sail back against it with almost imperceptible movement of their wings. At sea it goes in scattered flocks flying tirelessly when the wind is fresh. Its flight is steadier than that of the uau (Pterodroma). Graceful and innocent looking as the pairs seem while sitting at the entrance to their burrows, they can use bill and claws to good effect if molested, biting and scratching viciously.
Banding has established the facts that they invariably return to the same nesting island, that some of the pairs stay together for several years, that groups keep together and return together to the same part of their island nesting place. Of the thousands banded on islands off the coast of Oahu none has so far been reported as recaptured at a distance.
Its cry is a series of moans, groans, snores and wails, with an intensely weird effect when a large number of birds are performing.
Its food seems to be principally a long bodied squid or cuttlefish, and small fish of various kinds.
The birds arrive at the nesting islands in April, mate and prepare their burrows. They leave at the end of May to return in the middle of June to lay. One egg is laid, a delicate white, elongate-ovoid measuring 2.5x1.5 inches. The majority of the birds lay within the space of a few days. The time of laying on Laysan in 1891 coincided with the laying off the Oahu coast in 1937-41. During the mating, hatching and nurturing of the young large numbers come in to the breeding islands from the sea from early dusk till midnight. Numbers leave at daybreak; whether they are the same birds that come in during the night is not known. But it would seem as if different groups come in on different nights; as evidenced by the numbers on the banded birds. Towards the end of October the young are getting fledged and come out of their burrows. Banding has shown that some of the old birds return about that time, no doubt to guide the young to their winter range. The young leave the islands about November or December.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND SHEARWATER
| Puffinus nativitatus Streets | Plate 7, Fig. 4 |
Other names: Black Shearwater; Christmas Shearwater.
This shearwater is sooty black above, darker on head, wings and tail; sooty brown on under parts, tail wedge-shaped; iris dark brown; bill black; legs and feet dark brown, inside webs and toes slate. Length 14 inches. The newly hatched chick is covered with black down which it carries till well grown. Sexes do not differ and the immature is like the adult.
It has a wide range in the tropical Pacific. It breeds on islands of the Hawaiian Chain but was not reported from the main islands till 1937 when I collected a specimen on Moku Manu, off Oahu. A few have been found breeding there in succeeding years. Its one white egg is laid on the bare sand sheltered by grass or other vegetation. It averages 2.3x1.4 inches. The young were beginning to hatch on Laysan in the middle of June 1891. Large numbers came to the island in the evenings and filled the air with their groans. The breeding season seems to be long as I have seen young ready to fly as early as August on Moku Manu and in a succeeding year a well grown chick still in the down in October. One nearly fledged was on Moku Manu on August 18, 1943.
Noddy tern (Anous stolidus pileatus Scopoli) on Rabbit Island, Oahu.
Photo by William V. Ward.
NEWELL'S SHEARWATER
Puffinus newelli Henshaw
Other name: Newett's Puffin. Hawaiian name: Ao.
The ao is the only sea bird endemic to Hawaii not classed as a subspecies. It may possibly have close affinities elsewhere. Alexander in "Birds of the Ocean" suggests that it may be a form of Townsend's shearwater that inhabits the ocean off the coast of Mexico.
Above it is glossy black, underneath pure white except borders of under wing-coverts which are black. The white extends well up on the sides of the neck and on the flanks. This feature makes for easy identification in flight side on, visible as a white spot at neck and in front of tail. My notes on August 14, 1891 say: "After sighting Kauai, a petrel that we had not secured was to be seen yesterday. We had noticed them some days before... It differs from the uau in being stouter and shorter in proportion, a little larger, darker on the back and with no white on forehead."
Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands but in danger of extinction, it was formerly a common bird, nesting on Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Kauai and probably on other smaller islands also. There were 4 specimens in the Gay and Robinson collection in 1891. Mr. F. Gay said the ao laid its eggs in May and June in holes in the earth near the sea. Mr. Deverill of Hanalei, Kauai was informed by old natives that it was a black and white petrel the size of a mudhen. It was not described till 1900 when Henshaw procured a specimen from Brother Matthias Newell to whom it was given by natives who took it, with others, from burrows in the Waihee Valley, Maui. Henshaw described it and named it after Mr. Newell.
Alanson Bryan was told of it and heard its call in Pelekunu Valley, Molokai in 1907. It used to nest in the Waipio Valley, Hawaii, and the natives used it for food. Mr. W. H. Meinecke told me of a straggler that used to come to a cliff (Puuao on recent maps), near the town of Waiohinu, Hawaii, where it flew up and down uttering its eerie cry "ao". It came only at long intervals and was thought an omen of death by the natives. Mr. Meinecke said old natives told him the original name of the locality was Pu-a-ao "a flock of aos," so it is evident that the site was an original nesting place of the ao. Several instances have come under my notice of straggling sea birds returning.to long deserted nesting places.
Little is known of the habits of this species except that it nested in burrows at the foot of cliffs near the sea at from 500 to 1,000 feet elevation. It has most likely been killed out by the mongoose on Hawaii, Maui and Molokai. But it may still nest in remote valleys on the north side of Kauai and perhaps on Niihau. By some it is thought to be extinct and if so there are only about 7 specimens in existence. It will be most unfortunate if this, our only endemic species of sea