Annotated Checklist of Birds of Haleakala National Park, Maui
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WESTERN BIRDS Volume 15, Number 3, 1984 ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK, MAUl, HAWAII SHEILA CONANT, Department of General Science, University of Hawaii, 2450 Campus Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 MAILE STEMMERMANN KJARGAARD, P.O. Box 476, Volcano, Hawaii 96785 HaleakalaNational Park (Figure1), especiallyits Crater District(Figure 2), is one of the naturalareas in Hawaii mostfrequently visited by backpackers, day hikersand motorists.The KipahuluDistrict (Figure 3) of the park, a for- mally designatedWilderness Area, is not open to publicaccess because it containssensitive ecosystems with rare plantsand animals.The park is Maui's largestnature reserve, and one of the largestsuch areas in the state.It con- tainsmany examplesof endangeredor rare plants,animals and ecosystems. The avifauna of the entire park, which consistsof these two districts,is the subjectof this paper. No recentstudies have focusedintensively on the distributionand abun- dance of birds in Haleakala National Park. Dunmire (1961) listed and describedthe bird speciespresent in Haleakalaand Hawaii Volcanoesnation- al parks, but gave little detailedinformation on distributionand abundance. The unpublishedreport (Warner1967) of an expeditionto KipahuluValley (now partly includedin the Kipahulu Districtof HaleakalaNational Park) describedthe rediscoveryof two endemicspecies of Hawaiian forestbirds, but no other avifaunalsurveys of Kipahulu took place until we began the work describedhere. Since our work was completed, the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService has also completed its surveys of forestbirds on the islandof Maul (Scottet al. ms.), but theircoverage of the park wasless comprehensive than ours, and they were unable to surveyareas repeatedly or at different seasonsof the year. In 1975 the Cooperative National Parks Resources StudiesUnit (CPSU) funded researchersat the Universityof Hawaii to con- duct inventoriesof the biotain Hawaii'stwo nationalparks. The resultsof the avifaunalsurveys of the Crater and Kipahuludistricts of HaleakalaNational Parkprovided the basisfor this checklist. WesternBirds 15: 97-110, 1984 97 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK . -22 Q ......... •1 o HAWAIIAN ISLANDS . 19 IGO ø W 159 ø 158 ø 157 o 156 o 155 ø I MAUl Figure 1. Locationof the main HawaiianIslands, the islandof Maui, and Haleakala National Park. 98 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK 99 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK METHODS The checklistis basedprimarily on field work conductedin HaleakalaNa- tional Park (Figure 1) from 1976 to 1980. During that period of time we spent184 daysin the field: 79 daysin the Crater Districtand 105 daysin the KipahuluDistrict. We have includedthe time spentby severalbiologists who assistedus in our surveys(see Acknowledgments). We also includedinfor- mationfrom the publishedliterature, as cited in the text. Nomenclaturefollows the AOU Checklist(AOU 1983), exceptas noted. Some Hawaiian namesfor speciesfollow Pyle (1983). The biogeographic status(i.e., endemic, indigenous,exotic) is given for each species,and was determined from the literature. In this paper an endemic species or subspeciesis one whose natural (i.e., deliberateor accidentalhuman influ- ence not involved)distribution is limitedto the HawaiianArchipelago or to a singleisland or group of islandsin the archipelago.An indigenousspecies is /',,.,.HALEAKALA •, '""•TIONALPARK Kaumakani Figure 3. Kipahulu Districtof HaleakalaNational Park, with elevationcontours (in feet) and place names. 100 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK one whose natural distribution includes Hawaii and elsewhere in the world. An exoticspecies is one that hasbeen deliberatelyor accidentallyintroduced to the HawaiianArchipelago by humanactions. Figures 2 and 3 showdetails of the two districts,including the place namesused throughout the text. We identifiedfive habitattypes in the Crater Districtby usingWhiteaker's (1983) vegetationmap for the area. Whiteakeridentified 53 plant commu- nitytypes, but we combinedthese into five habitattypes that wereadequate for describingbird distributions.Figure 4 showsthe distributionof the five vegetationtypes we will be usingin this paper. Becauseno similarmap of vegetationtypes for the KipahuluDistrict has been produced, our discussion of bird distributionin that districtis more general. For detailed discussionsof arian distributionand abundance,the reader is referredto two additionalreports. The firstof thesecontains detailed distribu- tion and abundancemaps for the bird speciesfound in the Crater District (Conantand Stemmermann1979). The secondis a briefreport on the birds of the Kipahulu District, with maps of endangeredspecies' distributions (Conantand Stemmermann1980). Thesereports may be obtainedfrom the authors. ANNOTATED CHECKLIST FamilyProcellariidae -- Shearwatersand Petrels DARK-RUMPED PETREL Pterodromaphaeopy•?ia (Hawaiian Petrel, Uau) Endangeredspecies; Hawaiian subspecies,P. p. sandwichensis,endemic. Recent studiesby Simons(1983) indicatethat nestingburrows within the park are found on the westrim from Red Hill to above Holua Cabin, on the easternpart of the southrim, and near the summitof Hanakauhi. AlthoughSimons also found nestingcolonies out- sidethe park itself, most of the breedingpopulation of this endangeredbird is within the Crater District. Our observationsinclude sightingson the south rim above KapalaoaCabin, althougha one-nightsearch during the breedingseason revealed no burrows. We heard this bird at Puu Mamane about one hour after sunset in June 1976 and June 1977. G. Teves (pets. comm.) heard this speciesat Paliku2-3 hoursafter sunsetin June, July and August1977. Simonsestimated the total breedingpopulation of this specieson East Maui to be 575 pairs. FamilyPhaethontidae -- Tropicbirds WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD, Phaethonlepturus (Koa e kea) Indigenous. Breeds on Maui (Berger 1982:50), but no nests reported from Haleakala National Park. One to four birds observedfrequently in Kaupo Gap, especiallywest wall, duringthis study. Birds landed on cliffface of westKaupo'Gap on two different occasions(June 1976, January 1977). In July 1977 three birdswere observedat Palikuand one near Namana o ke Akua. Infrequentlyobserved near waterfallsin Kipahulu Valley (T. Lind pets. comm.). Family Fregatidae -- Frigatebirds GREAT FRIGATEBIRD, Fre•?ataminor (lwa) Indigenous.Individuals observed flying over lower partsof KipahuluValley or just offshoreof the mouth of the valley. 101 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK / I i 102 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK Family Anatidae -- Ducks and Geese HAWAIIAN GOOSE, Nesochen sandvicensis (Nene) Endemic;endangered. May be seenflying throughout the areasof open vegetation in the park (i.e., all but closedforest). Particularly common in easternhalf of Crater, especiallythe Paliku area. Frequentlyobserved in alpine grasslandson Kalapawili Ridgeand Kuiki. Total populationestimated at 80-100 birdsin the Crater District. FamilyPhasianidae -- Quails, Pheasantsand Francolins GRAY FRANCOLIN, Francolinuspondicerianus Exotic.Rare in Crater Districtalthough probably expanding its range into the xeric shrublandsfrom the KaupoGap area. Observedin westKaupo Gap twiceduring this study:once at about 1520 m elevation(C.W. Smith pets. comm.), and later at 1770 m (J.I. Kjargaardpets. comm.). Frequentlyobserved on Kaupo Ranch (ranchhand pers. comm.). CHUKAR, Alectoris chukar Exotic.Frequently observed and widely distributedthroughout closed native shrub habitats,grasslands and savannah.Particularly abundant in the closednative shrub on the northwestborder of the Crater District(Kalapawili Ridge). RING-NECKED PHEASANT, Phasianus colchicus Exotic. Widely dispersedin all open vegetatedareas in the Park and at edgesof forestedregions. Family Charadriidae-- Plovers LESSER GOLDEN-PLOVER, Pluvialisfulva. (Kolea) Regular migrant. Nomenclaturefollows Connors (1983). Widely distributedin shrublandsand grasslandsof the Park, includingalpine grasslandsand boggyareas. PresentAugust through April; some birdsmay oversummer. Family Scolopacidae-- Sandpipers WANDERING TATTLER, Heteroscelusincanus (Ulili) Regularmigrant. Observedin streamsin KipahuluValley, usuallynear stream mouth, but once as high as 800 m. Family Columbidae-- Doves and Pigeons ROCK DOVE, Columba livia (Pigeon) Exotic.Five birdsobserved roosting in a lava tube near Holua Cabin (F.G. Howarth pers. comm.). SPOTTED DOVE, Streptopeliachinensis (Chinese Dove, Lace-neckedDove) Exotic.Observed in lowlandsof KipahuluValley, especiallywet exoticforest. ZEBRA DOVE, Geopelia striata (Barred Dove) Exotic. Like the Spotted Dove, observedin lowlands of Kipahulu Valley. This speciesis more often observedin open fieldsand along roadsidesthan in the wet ex- otic forests. Family Tytonidae -- Barn-Owls COMMON BARN-OWL, Tyto alba Exotic. Uncommonin shrublandsand grasslands(including alpine grasslandson KalapawiliRidge and Kuiki). Most frequentlyobserved near southeastend of Crater District and near Hosmer Grove. 103 BIRDS OF HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK Family Strigidae-- Typical Owls SHORT-EARED OWL, Asio fiammeus (Pueo, Hawaiian Owl) Hawaiiansubspecies, A.f. sandwichensis,endemic. Uncommon in shrublandsand grasslands,at forestedges and in forests,especially in the easternpart of the Crater District,along Halemauu Trail and HosmerGrove. Also observedin alpinegrassland on KalapawiliRidge and Kuiki duringthis study. Family Alaudidae -- Larks EURASIAN SKYLARK, Alauda arvensis Exotic. Found throughout grasslandsand open shrublands,including alpine regions,in the park. Lesscommon within Crater itselfthan on the northwestslope