Man’s path takes him back to aiding rare shearwaters

To properly appreciate the significance of Ishon Mons’ work on behalf of Kauai’s endangered Newell’s shearwater (ao) population, it helps to know a few things about the charming little black-topped birdies.

The shearwaters have been in decline on their native island since the 1970s, their population decimated by natural disasters like Hurricane Iniki, predation by feral cats and — more to Mons’ concern — the disorienting effects of artificial lighting from street lamps and resorts.

The birds live inland but rely on the ocean for food. In especially dark conditions — like new-moon nights — the birds can get distracted by artificial lights, lose their bearings and crash into power lines.

"They live in the middle areas of the island," Mons explains, "and we’ve surrounded their home with power lines."

Sometimes the confused fledglings circle the lights until they exhaust themselves and fall to the ground, a precarious predicament for juvenile shearwaters who rely on updrafts to take flight.

Mons, 30, grew up well acquainted with the plight of the mild-tempered, largely defenseless shearwaters.

Mons’ mother worked with the Save Our Shearwaters seabird rescue organization. As a child, he would accompany his mother around Kauai’s North Shore collecting fallen birds from local businesses and resorts.

Mons and his mother would gently place the burrowing birds into foot-long sections of PVC piping for safe transport to sheer cliff areas of Princeville, where they would be released.

Roughly 90 percent of the remaining population of Newell’s shearwaters lives on Kauai. At the height of its activities, SOS was recovering some 2,000 grounded birds a year.

Mons continued his rescue work, volunteering also with the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge seabird sanctuary, through his teens.

After completing high school at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on Hawaii island, Mons attended the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klam­ath Falls, Ore., where he earned a degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis on opto-electronics.

Mons returned to Kauai after graduation, spending three years working for the Pacific Missile Range Facility before joining the research and development company Oceanit.

One of Mons’ current proj­ects is a solar-powered system that would use lasers to alert fledglings to the location of utility poles and lines.

Mons did not pursue his studies in opto-electronics with the intention of applying it to seabird preservation. Rather, he calls the confluence of childhood affinity and professional training "a happy accident."

"I just try to make things better than they are now," Mons says.

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Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.