Laysan Duck Trans-location to Midway

Laysan Atoll; aerial photo by Andy Collins

Hundreds of years ago we Laysan Ducks probably lived on all the Hawaiian Islands. After people came, we ended up living only on Laysan Atoll, 800 miles northwest of Honolulu. Notice the lake in the middle of the island; it's super-salty!

It's not good for a duck -- or any species -- to live in only one area! A tsunami or hurricane could wipe us Ducks out; we'd go EXTINCT!! To try and save us from extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service brought some of us to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Having Laysan Ducks in two places helps us survive.

But before the trans-location could take place, in 2004 and '05 USFWS removed the alien-invasive plant Verbesina from some areas on Midway. They used a big vehicle called a backhoe to dig about a dozen large holes in these areas. Freshwater from the surrounding sandy soil slowly seeped into the holes, so we now call these freshwater-filled holes "seeps." Many people helped to plant native Bunch Grass (Kawelu in Hawaiian, Eragrostis variabilis) around the seeps. The document "Examples of Successful Habitat Restoration (pdf)" has lots of pictures showing the creation of Monument Seep on Eastern island.

After the Kawelu had grown and when everything was ready for us, the Service trans-located some of us Ducks from Laysan to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. I, Kahiko Ladu, wasn't one of the original 2004 or '05 ducks, but my friend was. She came to Midway in 2005, and she now goes by the name "WT," since that's the bird band the biologists put on her right leg. "W" stands for the color of the band, white, and it has a black "T" on it. Barb surveyed Monument Seep today and took this picture of WT. It's a little hard to see, but WT's bill is pinkish; male ducks' bills are darker with a bluish color. (That's a Laysan Albatross chick in the background, and an albatross wing coming in on the right-side of the picture.)

Planting Cuttings of `Āweoweo

Yesterday we worked in the greenhouse and made cuttings of an endemic plant called Goosefoot, Chenopodium oahuense.  Doesn't the leaf in the small picture to the right look a little bit like a goose foot?!  It's called `Āweoweo in Hawaiian, which is also the name for the Big Eye reef fish, Priacanthus.  Matt said Hawaiians made this plant-fish connection because they noticed that Goosefoot leaves smell very fishy.  Since we were trimming some leaves off the cuttings anyway, I tried crushing some...and they DO smell like fresh, raw fish!    

After cutting a leafy piece of Goosefoot and trimming off some leaves, we dipped the cut end into a plant hormone powder called Rootone and stuck it into a pot of sand.  Rootone will speed up the growth of roots near the cut end.  After enough of those roots have grown, we'll plant the `Āweoweo back into its native environment.

Matt Saunter, Ilana Nimz and Ted McKinley (the photographer) joined me, Adam and Greg in this work.  We planted 3 or 4 plants in each of 65 pots; you can see how happy we are!

photo by Ted McKinley

Welcome to Midway Atoll!

Barb: Aloha kakahiaka! It was so good to meet you face-to-face yesterday morning at Sunrise (see the S10 on our FOAM's Midway map page!)

I had just taken my new ducklings out for a swim and food forage...and there you were, together with the other 2 volunteers, Gary and Adam. So nice to meet all of you. I'll look forward to your occasional visits, as you gather data about our health.

I know you'll be pono (on good behavior) when you come to visit us: please walk up to our pond slowly and quietly, crouching low; you don't want to scare us, causing us to go into the water before we want to, or hide in the plants growing at the pond's edge.
I hope you enjoy this picture of me and 4 of my 7 ducklings from this year. Gary has a couple of nice close-ups of my kids on his blog entry for today. Again: welcome to Midway Atoll!

Decoding FOAM authors' names

I thought what Auntie Moana and Edward said about their last names representing their bird species was interesting...
Auntie Moana Laal = Laysan Albatross
Edward Bfal = Black-footed Albatross
...so I guess Kahiko Ladu = Laysan Duck

I'm curious to know what "Moana," "Ulua" and "Kahiko" mean??