Hawaii
Through the eyes of a mainlander . . .
Hawaii: Volcanoes, islands, exotic, distant.
Random thoughts popped into our minds when our footloose daughter, Emily, proposed a trip to Hawaii.
The nation’s 50th state had been on our bucket list for decades – but Margaret and I had agonized over whether we wanted to spend hours crammed into airplanes and more hours in congested airports. But when Emily offered to be our chaperone – and to plan and lead naturalist explorations of the islands – how could we decline? As a bonus, a college friend who is a native of Maui, but lives part of the year in Missouri, insisted that we use his truck and house while he was away on the mainland. (Thanks, Ron!)
We started on the Big Island of Hawaii. Yes, it’s “BIG” – actually the tallest mountain in the world, if you consider that the island of Hawaii is a volcano, with the peak on Mauna Kea 13,796 feet above sea level. Add the distance from its base on the sea floor and the peak reaches 33,500 feet tall.
As we drove across the island to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, my first impression was desolation. Black fields of lava from eruptions within the past few decades stretched to the horizon. A closer look, however, revealed bits of vegetation already starting to grow on and reclaim what one might assume is sterile rock.
That brought to mind another description we hadn’t thought of: young. Sure, Hawaii is our youngest state, entering the union in 1959. But it’s also the newest geologically by far.
The volcanic eruptions that formed the oldest part of island chain began only about 28 million years ago. The Big Island, which is the youngest, may be just 400,000 years old – and it’s still growing. In a helicopter flight over Kilauea, we saw whisps of steam coming from cracks in the rock. Our chopper pilot recalled a major eruption a few years ago when lava spewed higher than the 1,500 feet elevation where we flew that day.
OK, 28 million years old may not sound young to some people – but the islands are infants compared with the 300-500-million-year-old bedrock outcrops on our farm along the Turkey River in Iowa’s Paleozoic Plateau.
Iowa’s human history, as well, is ancient compared with Hawaii. Our first humans probably arrived by way of a land bridge from Asia 10-15,000 years ago. Historians say the first Polynesians reached Hawaii by canoe 1,700 years ago.
Our Hawaiian travels dramatically illustrated ecological succession, as we passed through bare lava, clumps of grass invading the rock, then to rich range lands to forested hills and rain forests. While drier sides of the islands remain open grasslands, in other areas with ample rainfall plants grow rapidly, as we saw on the infamous “Road to Hana” on Maui.
Having driven Iowa’s back roads all my life, I was unfazed by warnings about the narrow, steep, twisting road. Steering the truck around the countless switchbacks proved to be good therapy for my aging arm and shoulder muscles. We slowed or stopped for glimpses of waterfalls cascading through the rain forest. A spectacular overlook emphasized the power of the Pacific, with huge waves crashing into the lava boulders along the beach.
Hawaii’s state bird, the Nene goose, a species endemic to Hawaii, gave us a lesson in evolution. Scientists think the Nene evolved from similar Canada geese who got blown off course and ended up in Hawaii tens of thousands of years ago. Once a poster child for the Endangered Species Act, with just 30 birds in the wild, the Nene was downlisted from endangered to threatened after biologists counted more than 3,000 wild birds in 2019. We spotted a Nene wandering through a parking lot on a road in Haleakela National Park.
The Hawaiian coot, or ‘aloe ke’oke’o, also may have evolved from similar – and abundant – American coots who strayed from North America. The descendants on the islands now are non-migratory.
Another almost-familiar bird we were lucky enough to see was the Hawaiian stilt, or Ae’o, a taller, pink-legged version of the black-necked stilt. It remains on the Endangered Species List, mostly due to loss of wetland habitat. Introduced predators such as feral cats, cattle egrets, bullfrogs, barn owls, and black-crowned night herons also destroy stilt eggs and chicks.
Of about 150 bird species that were indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands, only 42 still can be found there – and 33 of those are threatened or endangered.
The interface between the invaders and native Hawaiian species is striking. Chukars wandered the summit of Haleakala National Park, and pecked for insects near the spiney rosettes of Haleakala silversword, a stunning succulent plant endemic to the harsh, lava slopes of the volcano. Silversword, which may live up to 90 years before it flowers and dies, is listed as threatened because tourists used to collect the rosettes as souvenirs, and livestock sometimes grazed on the leaves.
The dictionary confirms that Hawaii is an “exotic” place – attractive, striking, out of the ordinary. But it’s also home to many “exotics:” species who originate in or are characteristic of a distant place. Even the people originated elsewhere.
From the first Polynesian settlers, who brought with them familiar plants and animals they needed to survive - chickens, hogs, seeds and plants for gardening – people have introduced many new species to the Islands. Legend has it that mosquitoes arrived in 1826 when a British whaling vessel traveling from Mexico dumped casks of water carrying mosquito larvae into a stream on Maui. Mosquitoes carry avian malaria – which also came from alien birds brought to the islands. The disease threatens native species, which have no immunity.
Other newly arrived people brought familiar songbirds like house finches, saffron finches, and northern cardinals. Hunters imported chukar partridges, mourning doves, wild turkeys, and several species of pheasants. Other hunters released axis deer. Sheep, goats, and hogs escaped from ranches, often encroaching on natural areas.
Mynah birds were imported from India in the 1860s to control cutworms. They’ve become pests, akin to the ubiquitous European starlings on the mainland. Feral cats, rats, mice, and even mongooses prey on native birds and their eggs.
In 1909, attempting to establish a timber industry, Hawaii’s territorial Superintendent of Forestry, Ralph Hosmer, directed the planting of Eucalyptus trees and exotic conifers in what is now Haleakela National Park. The trees were not suited to the Hawaiian environment, so the experiment failed. The site is now a campground.
Despite the scars inflicted by generations of people, Hawaii’s rich, diverse, island environment remains an attraction that we mainlanders can only marvel at. A whale-watching tour found hump back whales arriving from Alaska to winter in the warmer waters near the islands. When snorkeling over a coral reef in a warm, calm, clear bay, we spied sea turtles and a host of tropical fish.
At Wai’anapanapa State Park on Maui, a colony of black noddy, Noio, entertained us with their antics on a nesting rock in a shallow bay. Whitecaps from the ocean splashed on a black sand beach.
We thrilled to the sight of rare birds such as the ‘I’iwi, a bright-red honey creeper with a long, curved beak, and the more common but equally beautiful ‘apapane. We hiked through lush ferns on rain forest trails.
At Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on Maui, we hiked a boardwalk through a wetland hosting golden plovers, or Kolea, and other shorebirds, then relaxed on an ocean beach. The white sand and whispering waves contrasted with the rows of luxury condominiums far across the bay.
And to think, the first settlers came across the Pacific by canoe . . .
As an Iowa farm kid, former outdoor writer/photographer for the Des Moines Register, and an environmental advocate, I’m privileged to be a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please consider supporting my colleagues and me by sharing and subscribing. Paid subscribers are invited to attend real-time events and occasional Zoom calls among our writers. Your support keeps this reader-only supported service going.
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The photos of various species of plants and animals are lovely! Your commentary
adds so much about a part of the United States I am unlikely to ever see. Thanks for your article, photos and commentary.
I appreciate any reflection on Hawaii, and loved your descriptions. I think my spirit lies in Hawaii. Or maybe the Hawaiian spirit lies in me.