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Ocean Watch
By Susan Scott
Monday, January 17, 2000
As if Hawaii's birds haven't had a hard enough time surviving alongside humans in the 20th century, they had to suffer trial by fire to make it into the 21st. Fireworks put birds
dead in the waterA couple of days after New Year's fireworks displays, hundreds of birds were found dead on Kailua Beach. Most of the birds were mynahs and Java sparrows. These aren't endangered species, but these perky little birds make our island cheerful and lively.
That same weekend, a biologist friend of mine went kayaking off Kailua and found several dead land birds and one dead ruddy turnstone. Ruddy turnstones are one of Hawaii's common migratory shorebirds that spends summers in the Arctic and winters in Hawaii.
Finding so many dead birds in and near the ocean is so unusual that biologists believe the deaths were the result of the excessive amount of holiday fireworks ignited this year.
As to why the birds died, bird experts can only guess. One speculation is that the noise of the blasts frightened the birds out to sea where they got tired, lost or confused, and then drowned. Another possibility is that the smoke drove them from their nighttime roosts and they died either from smoke inhalation or drowning when they became exhausted over the water.
Whatever the cause, the dead land birds are a sad commentary on how over-the-top fireworks have become in Hawaii. But the dead turnstone is another story. It could be a sign that our shorebirds are in trouble.
During about nine months of the year, from August to April, Hawaii hosts four species of migratory shorebirds: ruddy turnstones, sanderlings, wandering tattlers and our much-loved golden plovers. (Other species also come but these four are the most numerous.)
Federal and state laws now protect these birds because in the 19th and early 20th centuries they were hunted to excess. In Hawaii, hunters were allowed to shoot 15 plovers a day each, but this number was often exceeded. Shorebird hunting was banned in 1941.
Although shorebirds are now protected in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, they are still trapped and killed extensively in Asia. Besides being hunted, habitat loss and human disturbance have caused a major decline in most species.
Shorebirds are familiar winter visitors to Hawaii residents. The birds spend their days probing for invertebrates along our shorelines, on grassy lawns and in our beach parks. I have seen large flocks of the lovely, multicolored ruddy turnstones in several beach parks on Oahu, often in the company of sanderlings. Sanderlings are the white birds that run back and forth on the beach with the waves, looking like little wind-up toys.
Wandering tattlers and golden plovers are usually loners. Each has a distinct stop-and-go pace that makes them easy to spot.
At night, some shorebirds roost in trees and on rooftops. Others spend their nights on beaches, rocky points, hillsides and parking lots.
It's easy to imagine the panic these creatures experienced upon hearing the fireworks blasts and breathing the smoke.
We know some were killed. No one knows how many were lost or how much long-term damage the fireworks caused the birds' respiratory and auditory systems. We have to wait until next year when they come back -- or not.
But we shouldn't wait until a disaster happens to do something positive for our struggling wildlife. You can help Hawaii's birds by urging your legislator to ban fireworks on Oahu.
Without birds, our island would be a lonely place indeed.
Marine science writer Susan Scott's Ocean Watch column
appears Mondays in the Star-Bulletin. Contact her at honu@aloha.net.
