Question: What’s up with the plovers? Checking the places I remember, I don’t see nearly as many kolea as usual for this time of year. Do you have a bird expert you could ask?
Answer: The migratory shorebirds spend late spring and most of the summer in Alaska breeding and raising chicks, then return to the islands for the fall and winter, returning to the same locations year after year. Adults arrive in Hawaii from July to September, mainly in August. Chicks may arrive as late as November.
People throughout Hawaii are documenting kolea sightings now — everyone is invited to contribute to the annual tally at koleacount.org — but there’s not enough data yet to track any long-term changes in migration, said Susan Scott, president of the Hawaii Audubon Society, co- author of the book “Hawaii’s Kolea: The Amazing Transpacific Life of the Pacific Golden- Plover,” and organizer of the community count, which began in 2020.
“Because we have little data over time about Hawaii’s Pacific Golden- Plovers, commonly called kolea, no one can answer basic questions about one of Hawaii’s most popular native shorebirds. We don’t know if the kolea population is increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable; how many birds spend their winters here; if their arrival and departure dates vary from year-to-year; or how many spend their summers here,” she said Friday in an email, explaining that she created the citizen- science website, with plover expert Oscar “Wally” Johnson as adviser, “to give plover lovers a place to record their observations” and collect data needed to answer these questions.
At the website, kolea spotters can report locations, arrival dates, departure dates, whether a bird stays over the summer (as may occur with underweight kolea who can’t make the three-day, nonstop flight back to Alaska) and other observations about individual kolea or flocks of the birds.
“The first year was a test to see if community members would help with entering dates and counts. The answer has been an enthusiastic ‘yes,’ with helpers ranging from preschool students to retirees and everyone in between, including visitors,” Scott said. The 2022-2023 count began in July, she said, urging all interested to submit observations.
“The monitoring will continue indefinitely to give us years’ worth of information about these amazing birds,” she said. “Until then, the answer to the questions we all have about kolea is, ‘Only the birds know.’”
During the 2021-2022 kolea count, 6,743 sightings were reported from July through May, according to the website.
The kolea count is one of several projects sponsored by the Hawaii Audubon Society. For information about Honolulu’s white tern citizen-science project, wedge-tailed shearwater work and rescues, and bird tours, go to hiaudubon.org.
Q: What’s the website that lets you compare airlines’ customer service before you buy your ticket?
A: You’re referring to the airline customer service dashboard launched by the U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday, at 808ne.ws/dash. You can also find it via the department’s homepage, transportation.gov.
This site shows consumers what 10 major U.S. airlines promise to do if a flight is canceled or delayed for reasons within an airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, cabin cleaning, baggage loading and fueling.
According to the dashboard, American, Delta, Jet Blue and United airlines committed to the highest level of service for passengers inconvenienced by controllable cancellations or significant delays, with green check marks in all 10 categories listed, such as rebooking flights without additional fees and providing meal vouchers and hotel accommodations. Hawaiian Airlines was next, with green check marks in nine of 10 categories.
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