UPDATES TO H.DOUGLAS PRATT'S "ENJOYING BIRDS AND OTHER WILDLIFE IN HAWAI'I"UPDATES TO H.DOUGLAS PRATT'S "ENJOYING BIRDS AND OTHER WILDLIFE IN HAWAI'I"
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LAST UPDATED ON: |
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| GENERAL INFO. | ||
| KAUA'I | ||
| O'AHU |
JANUARY 2003 |
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| MAUI | ||
| MOLOKA'I | ||
| LANA'I | ||
| HAWAI'I | ||
| MIDWAY and NW CHAIN |
JULY 24th 2003 |
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| BOOK REVIEW |
| GENERAL INFO. |
| KAUA'I |
| O'AHU |
| Added January 2003. If James Campbell NWR is closed, eg. for the nesting season, Bristle-thighed Curlew may be able to be observed from Kahuku Golf Course, which is open to the public, by a Japanese (or Chinese) cemetery on a rise that overlooks the pastures and dunes (private land, posted) between the golf course and the refuge. Although the outermost ponds are pretty far away, with a scope it is possible to identify quite a few species (ducks etc.). Specific directions are to follow the road at the north end of the parking lot until it dead-ends at a fence adjacent to the small cemetery. This should be done on foot, but it's only about a quarter mile (if that). DO NOT make the mistake of driving in (there is a warning sign that is hidden by foliage!) as you may get locked inside the gate, and you will have to call the police to let you out. |
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| MOLOKA'I |
| LANA'I |
| HAWAI'I |
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| Added July 24th 2003. FWS has hired a new contractor on Midway. The new contractor (Chugach McKinnley) is in place, although only 1/3 of their employees are on island. For the next 6 months or so, Chugach McKinnley will be responsible for maintaining the infrastructure and airport. At this point it is unclear whether FWS would ask Chugach to take on the ecotourism component or seek another entity. Ecotourism is still part of the vision, but not for at least 6 months. |
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Enjoying Birds and Other Wildlife in Hawai'i A Site-by-Site guide to the Islands for the birder and naturalist by H. Douglas Pratt
The text for each site is clear, concise and informative with all-important detailed directions for accessing the best areas, as well as listing species likely to be seen at each site. Many of the sites covered are also shown on small-scale maps, which can be useful in many areas, especially if used in conjunction with a larger-scale map. Illustrated throughout with photographs and colour vignettes the pages are eye-catching but remain uncluttered, which aids with quick referencing, and gives the book a bright and fresh quality, without appearing over-fussy. As a long-time visitor to the Islands, the author really "knows his stuff", and this is reflected in the text and sites chosen, which he has visited on many numerous occasions. Although this new edition is based on Enjoying Birds in Hawai'i - a bird finding guide to the 50th State, it has been considerably updated, added to and expanded and is now almost 100 pages longer than the original and covers 74 sites. A whole new section on Midway has been included and the section on pelagic birding has been expanded, with details of offshore birding for different islands included, an addition which is far more useful than the smaller section which was in the original guide (which was also of great interest, by the way). The book concludes with a species guide to some of the more interesting and perhaps more difficult to locate birds and animals to be found in the Islands, again illustrated with photographs. The only minor quibble I have is that the author has decided to exclude the set of plant photographs that was included in the original edition, and although as the author states, these are detailed in his book "A Pocket Guide to Hawai'i's Trees and Shrubs" (Mutual Publishing Company, 1998), I feel that the seven or eight pages that it would have taken to include them would have been well-worthwhile, as it does provide a small taster of the species that occur in the Islands. However this does not detract from the book and provides a good excuse to buy A Pocket Guide to Hawai'i's Trees and Shrubs, which details many more species than could be shown in the presently described book. Enjoying Birds and Other Wildlife in Hawai'i is an indispensable guide to the wildlife of the Hawaiian Archipelago and is a must for those visiting to observe its unique and varied species, both native and introduced. With almost all the species likely to be seen in the Islands covered in the book, Doug Pratt has produced an enjoyable and informative guide which should enable any visitor to connect with the desired species at well-researched and oft-visited sites, as well as a few less-well known sites. I would thoroughly recommend this guide to any visitor to Hawai'i, and I often find myself dipping into its pages for reference, even though I have already been to almost all the sites and seen most of the species referred to. If you don't have the "Original" guide then get this one, if you do own the original, then still get this one, it is invaluable! Definitely a valuable addition to the wildlife record of the Islands and deserves a place on anyone's bookshelf. "Dr. H. Douglas Pratt is an ornithologist, writer, photographer, and world-renowned illustrator with a quarter-century of experience leading birding and natural history tours in Hawai'i. He is Staff Research Associate at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science and a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union. His writings and illustrations have appeared in numerous books, travel guides and journals, including A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawai'i and the Tropical Pacific, Hawai'i's Beautiful Birds, and Hawaii: The Ecotravellers' Wildlife Guide. In his free time, Doug enjoys playing dobro and autoharp in a country/western band in his hometown of Baton Rouge." [From the cover of the book].
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