| Summary: | Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in. The endangered waterbirds of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO) were studied from February 1992 through 1995, a study begun in conjunction with other avian surveys done during 1992-93 at the three National Park units in west Hawai'i Island (Morin 1996a, 1996b, 1996c). Other simultaneous surveys studied invertebrates, mammals, and vegetation (David Foote pers. comm.; Charles Stone pers. comm.; Pratt and Abbott 1996a, 1996b, 1996c) at those same sites. Endangered Hawaiian Coots or 'Alae ke'oke'o (Fulica alai) and endangered Hawaiian Stilts or Ae'o (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni) are resident, endemic species and breed at KAHO. Two other resident waterbirds also regularly breed there: the indigenous Black-crowned Night-Heron or 'Auku'u (Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli) and the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps). The endangered Hawaiian Moorhen or 'Alae'ula (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis) is believed to have been extirpated on Hawai'i Island in the early 1900s (Banko 1987a). The fourth endangered Hawaiian waterbird species, the Hawaiian Duck or Koloa (Anas wyvilliana) has never been confirmed from KAHO's wetlands. Two nonnative waterbirds established on Hawai'i Island sometimes visit KAHO, but there are no records they have ever bred there: the Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, and Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis. In addition to the previously mentioned species, long-term bird sighting records indicate that at least 2 species of migratory geese, 15 species of migratory ducks, 23 species of migratory shorebirds, 11 species of gulls and terns, and 3 other migrant or vagrant species have visited KAHO's wetlands (Morin 1996b). Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) were the most abundant migrant duck. Waterbird censuses were made at least weekly in the two KAHO fishponds, 'Aimakapa and Kaloko, for most of the period 1992 through July 1994, and at least twice a month from ...
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