Papahanaumokuakea and Nihoa Island
Nihoa Island is located at the southeastern end of Papahanaumokuakea, about 170 acres in size, with 900 foot cliffs, basalt rock surface, and a tiny beach. This remote land of rugged cliffs and steep valleys provided a home for Hawaiians between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1700. More than 80 cultural sites have been discovered, including religious shrines, habitation terraces and shelters, agricultural terraces, and burial caves. Many of the mea makamae (cultural objects) and structures associated with these wahi pana (cultural places) are similar to many found throughout the Main Hawaiian Islands. Artifacts found included fishhooks, sinkers, cowry shell lures, hammerstones, grindstones, and adzes.
Even though the island’s rugged landscape may look uninhabitable, its rocky outcroppings support some of the most unique and varied insect, seabird, and plant life of all Papahanaumokuakea. Seventy-two terrestrial arthropods including giant crickets and earwigs, and two endemic landbirds, the Nihoa Finch (Telespyza ultima) and the endangered Nihoa Millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris kingi), are found only on Nihoa. Several species of seabirds, such as terns, shearwaters, petrels, boobies, albatrosses, tropic birds, and frigate birds are also found here.
Endemic endangered plants include the Nihoa Fan Palm (Pritchardia remota), the only species of tree on the island, and the leguminous ‘Ohai Shrub (Sesbania tomentosa). The submerged coral reef habitat covers about 142,000 acres with seventeen species of stony corals documented. Small encrusting forms of the lobe coral, and rose coral colonies are the most common. Limu (algae), wana (sea urchin), and opihi (limpet) inhabit the shallow waters, while sharks and jacks hover in deeper waters offshore. The rare spotted knifejaw (Oplegnathus punctatus) is often seen at Nihoa. Nihoa also supports a small population of endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals.
Papahanaumokuakea Aerial View
In this aerial video you will experience the grandeur of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from the air. From the flight deck of a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 you will tour the largest conservation area in the U.S.
Flying from Nihoa Island at the southeastern end of Papahanaumokuakea and continuing for 1200 miles over French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl & Hermes Atoll, Midway Atoll, to Kure Atoll, the northernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago, this video gives you a birds-eye view of tiny islands and atolls surrounded by the azure waters of the North Pacific.
Humpback Whales in Papahanaumokuakea
Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) were once on the brink of extinction, but their numbers have dramatically increased to approximately 10,000 migrating to Hawaii each winter. Along with this steady increase in the number of whales, is a geographic expansion from the main Hawaiian Islands into the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
Researchers deployed nine electronic listening posts known as Ecological Acoustic Recorders (EARs) in both Papahanaumokuakea and main Hawaiian Islands to record the occurrence of humpback whale song. Song is produced by male humpback whales during the winter breeding season. Humpback Whale song was found to be prevalent not only in the Main Hawaiian Islands, but right up the archipelago into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands from late December to mid-May.
It is not yet clear how many whales use the northern islands, but this area has twice as much shallow warm water habitat as the main islands. More whales were detected in the middle waters of the region, and fewer in the colder waters of the northernmost atolls. Song was found to be prevalent at Maro Reef, Lisianski Island, and French Frigate Shoals, but was also recorded at Kure Atoll, Midway Atoll, and Pearl and Hermes Atoll.
Hawaiian Birds and Black-footed Albatross
The Black-footed Albatross nests on remote beaches in the Hawaiian Archipelago during the winter and spring, and then wanders widely across the North Pacific to California, Alaska, Taiwan, and the Bering Sea. The Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) is the only uniformly dark-plumaged albatross of the North Pacific Ocean. It is entirely dusky brown except for a narrow whitish ring around base of bill and under the eye.
It is relatively small compared to other albatross, and uses energy-efficient dynamic soaring and slope soaring during flight. Dynamic soaring takes advantage of the fact that wind velocity near the sea surface may be fifty percent less than 50 feet above the surface. Slope soaring makes use of the wind deflected upwards from the windward face of a wave. In flight, webbed toes can extend beyond tail and used as a rudder, with air speed estimated at 25 to 30 knots.
Several different vocalizations are:
The Double-call or eh-eh
The Whinny is used during courtship
The Whine occurs during dancing, fighting, or escape
The Sky Call is a long single note given during the dance
Grunts, Moans, and Inhalations are given during physical exertion
The Yammer is a growling sound
Nonvocal sounds are:
Bill Snap is a single closure of the mandibles
Bill Clap is a series of repeated snaps
A rapid series of Bill Claps is called a Bill Clacker
Bill Clapping occurs while nibbling the feathers during the Bill-under-wing Display
Head-up Clackers are performed during the dance with a horizontal head and bill
Bow Clacker is also seen during the dance, with Head Bowing
Bill Rapping occurs during the dance
Papahanaumokuakea and Gardner Pinnacles
The two steep pinnacles of volcanic rock called Gardner Pinnacles (Puhahonu) comprise the smallest land area of any of the islands in Papahanaumokuakea. The highest point above sea level is 190 feet, and while the land area is only 5-acres, the underwater shelves reach outward from the pinnacles and extend over an area of 604,000 acres.
Gardner Pinnacles is known for its abundance of Giant Opihi (Cellana sandwicensis) living in the islands’ inter-tidal areas. This endemic Hawaiian limpet was once a popular food source in Hawaii for centuries, but now is very rare. Twenty-seven documented species of stony coral are found throughout the reef system including acropora table coral, while tube, stony, and soft corals. These corals provide habitat for the highest numbers of fish species in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, some which are not found at other Hawaiian islands.
Gardner Pinnacles is home to nineteen species of seabirds, most of which breed on the steep cliffs, including the rare Blue-gray Noddy. Other birds include terns, boobies, frigate birds, ruddy turnstones, and the golden plover. However, only a single species of plant clings to its rocky surface – the succulent sea purslane. Despite its isolation, the island has a surprisingly wide array of insects, including spiders, mites, moths, centipedes, flies, beetles, isopods, and earwigs.
Papahanaumokuakea Shipwrecks 2
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument possess a rich maritime history of shipwrecks, sunken aircraft, and other archaeological sites. In 1915 the Reverend J.M. Lydgate summarized the hazardous nature of the atoll environment: The islands and reefs to the northwest of Hawaii have been a veritable graveyard of marine disaster. The two sufficient reasons for this have been, first, the low, inconspicuous character of the islands, and, second, the faulty or insufficient location of them on the marine charts. The menace of the iceberg is the fact that it lies seven-eighths underwater and you strike some submerged, protruding spur of it before you dream of danger. In a much more disastrous way the same thing is true of many of these islands.
