February 10, 2005

The Kolea

pluvialis fulva The Golden Plover or the "Kolea" in Hawaiian. This remarkable bird flies to Hawaii from Alaska and back every year. There are many Hawaiian chants and stories about this territorial creature. For me, they are signs of comming winter and their departure means that summer is not far behind.They have a long migratory trail that scientist are only now learning about. I enjoy their antics as they protect their own territories... chasing off other birds that come onto their yards and walkways...

They are also called "Haolie Birds". In popular Hawaiian culture, a haolie is a white person, but that is not the true meaning of the word. It means stranger, person with no past, or one that comes out of no where, like a ghost. They called the first white man this and it is not a title of disrespect but a way to describe a person that has just appered and now inhabits the island. I also think that the name is very appropreate as the Kolea stakes out a territory likly a front or back lawn as his or her own and will allow no other birds to feed or rest on the grass, Selfish? To the Hawaiians yes but really its self preservation the Kolea needs every bug it can eat to get it ready for breeding then nesting in the artic where scientists believe it eats little...

We haolies also stake out territories and build fences to keep others out. This has been a source of major problems as there are those that have had access to certain route to get to fishing sites or Opi'i picking areas (a shellfish like a limpet) now no longer have this right of way as it cuts right into someones back yard... We are having major fights here in our subdivision over how the"end of the road area" is used and its comming to blows. As a haolie I no longer go there alone even though I have found the sun shining on the wide blue seas of the Puna Clifts a comfort on many a bad day. A woman was murdered there recently in broad daylight and "no one saw anything..."

WE haolies are likened to the Kolea as the locals think we area just here to speculate and hurry on home, with our arms full of real estate loot. So they dont reach out to help, or get to know us. I feel badly that this is how we come off but I dont know that we had a choice in this.



'Ai no ke kolea a momona ho'i i Kahiki!
The kolea eats until he is fat, then returns to the land from which he came!

O ka hua o ke kolea aia i Kahiki
The egg of the kolea is laid in a foreign land