Amelia Earhart Photos
Enlarged photos of Amelia Earhart’s visit to Hawaii in 1934 are on display at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (Oahu) where she stayed. Sixty-five recently discovered photographs of the pioneer’s time in Hawai’i are from the archives of the Matson Navigation Company (owners of the Royal Hawaiian, and the S.S. Lurline, which transported the pilot and her plane to Hawai’i). Although Earhart spent a lot of time at Wheeler Field getting her plane ready for travel, she and her husband also relaxed in Waikiki.
The black and white photographs capture Earhart with her husband vacationing, enjoying a little R&R, meeting Duke Kahanamoku, sampling pineapple, visiting Maui and the Big Island, and planting a banyan tree. Also on board the ocean liner was aviator Paul Mantz, who took her bright red Lockheed Vega up to Wheeler Field for fine-tuning and flight testing. The plane, she nicknamed “Old Bessie”, was pretty much hidden from public view, while Earhart and her husband became the toast of the islands.
The pictures are blown up in exquisite detail on canvas, and will be donated to the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island when the exhibition ends. In addition to the oversize canvas prints, more than 50 other pictures of Earhart will be used in an illustrated time line of her stay in the islands. On Jan. 12, 1935, Earhart took off from Wheeler and flew to Oakland, becoming the first person to make a solo trans-Pacific flight. The country went wild, and Earhart’s status as a modern heroine was assured. The exhibition starts on July 24, 2010 (Earhart’s birthday) and continues through the end of the year.
Hawaiian Birds – Akekee Conservation
The ‘Akeke’e population was once relatively stable, even while other endemic Kaua’i birds were sharply declining, and its population was estimated to be nearly 8,000 birds in 2000. However, the population dropped to approximately 3,500 birds by 2007, which caused it to be protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2010.
Like other endemic Kaua‘i birds, long-term survival of ‘Akeke‘e depends on preservation of large tracts of native forest – particularly ‘ohi‘a. As with other native forest birds, vigilance is essential to prevent additional introductions of noxious plants, potential predators, and alien birds. The ʻAkekeʻe is threatened by the introduction of plants like the banana pōka that displace native plants. Feral pigs, goats, and deer also destroy native growth. Eventually, the insects on which the ʻAkekeʻe feeds will disappear from such areas, as they on longer find their usual host plants.
Natural hurricanes, as well as human development in the Koke‘e region reduces the amount of habitat available and increases breeding sites for mosquitoes. The spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes into native forests probably poses the greatest long-term threat to their survival. This is the reason why these birds are rarely found at lower altitudes, but only in higher, cooler regions where mosquitos do not occur. Efforts to prevent further habitat degradation will probably be most effective in maintaining this species.
Kauai Music Festival 2010
The Kaua’i Music Festival is a 4-day celebration of the art & craft of songwriting held from Wednesday, July 28 to Saturday, July 31, 2010. It provides attendees unprecedented access to some of the most successful songwriters and A&R executives working in the business today.
This festival is about helping aspiring songwriters to write a better song, to find the words to express those personal feelings in a way that can touch others. Attendees cover a vast range of genres, age, experience, and they travel here from all over the world. The genres of past attendees spanned from rock, pop, R&B, country, and Hawaiian.
Each year The Kaua’i Music Festival brings some of the best talent from Hawai’i together with some of the best talent from the U.S. mainland for two nights of entertainment.
Po’alima Concert
Friday, July 30, 6 – 9 pm
Kevin Griffin (of Better Than Ezra)
David Pack (of Ambrosia)
Bonnie McKee (Indie Artist who portrayed Janis Joplin in NBC’s American Dreams Series)
Jason Blume (Songwriter with cuts on over 50 million albums worldwide)
Jeff Dayton (Toured with Kenny Chesney)
Plus performances by the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place songwriter contest winners
Pau Hana Concert
Saturday, July 31, 6 – 9 pm
O’Brian Eselu and his Award-Winning Hula Halau “Ke Kai O Kahiki”
Rev. Dennis Kamakahi
Charles Brotman
Kenneth Makuakane and The Pandanus Club
Plus performances by the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place songwriter contest winners
Hawaiian Birds – Akekee Breeding
The ‘Akeke‘e (Loxops caeruleirostris) is endemic to Kauai and found in the upper regions of Alakaʻi, Koke‘e, and Waimea. They forage mostly alone or in pairs, sifting through ‘ohi‘a leaf clusters with quick, deliberate movements, and using their crossed bill to open leaf and flower buds. Then they capture prey of insects, psyllids, spiders, and caterpillars with their brush-tipped tongue.
The courtship display is similar to that of other Hawaiian honeycreepers with the male giving short, rapid calls while quickly hopping back and forth in front of the female. Both male and female participate equally in construction of the open-cup nest consisting mostly of moss and lichen located in the crowns of ‘ohi‘a trees. Clutches number one or two eggs, with an incubation period probably lasting around 14 to 16 days, and both sexes feeding nestlings.
Like other Hawaiian honeycreepers, this species sings throughout year, more frequent just after sunrise and before sunset. The male begins singing in the spring of its second year, in time for its first potential breeding season. The song is a quick, high-pitched trill that characteristically changes tempo and pitch mid-song. The typical adult call is a loud ‘sweet’ or ‘peek’, with a distinctive piercing or ringing quality.
Like many other Hawaiian honeycreepers, ‘Akeke‘e have extended, soft vocalizations that do not appear to be typical subsongs, but instead are called “whisper songs.” Whisper songs are characterized by short repeated notes and mimicry of other species’ calls, and typically includes fragments of the species’ own song. Photo by G. Armistead.
Hear the ‘Akeke‘e (produced by SoundsHawaiian)
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Hawaiian Birds – Akekee
The ‘Akeke‘e is a small green and yellow bird found only in the mountains of Kaua‘i in the Hawaiian Archipelago. This Hawaiian honeycreeper lives above 3,250 feet elevation in native forests of the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve, Kōkeʻe State Park, and Waimea Canyon State Park.
Both sexes are greenish above, with yellow below, yellow cap and rump, and the female being slightly duller than the male. It is distinguished from other honeycreepers by its broad triangular face mask, long, notched tail, and conical bill. The bill is bluish gray, with the tip of lower mandible curved to one side. The active ʻAkekeʻe forages mostly in the native ‘ohi’a tree, and uses its unusual bill like scissors to cut open leaf and flower buds in search of insects to eat. This methodical probing is distinctive and helps identify it from a distance.
This Hawaiian honeycreeper was considered common in the late 1800s and into the early 1960s. The ‘akeke‘e population appeared to be relatively stable, even while other endemic Kaua‘i birds were sharply declining, and its population was estimated to be nearly 8,000 birds in 2000. However, the population dropped to approximately 3,500 birds by 2007, and is estimated to occupy only 10 to 12 percent of its original range. The ‘Akeke‘e (Loxops caeruleirostris) is now protected (2010) under the Endangered Species Act along with the ‘Akikiki. These two species join 33 other bird species listed as endangered and another listed as threatened in Hawai‘i. Photo by Jack Jeffrey.
