Birds of the National Parks in Hawaii

Birds of the National Parks in Hawaii

When the Hawaiian Islands were first studied by ornithologists in the nineteenth century, they were a bird paradise. The forests abounded with many of the most unusual birds known to the worldsome with enormous sickle-shaped bills, some resembling parrots, a goose that spent most of its life on barren lava flows, a tiny flightless rail, and a sea bird that nested within the vents of the active volcanoes. Most of these island birds were found nowhere else in the world. Today many of the original island species are extinct, while others are barely managing to hold their own. With more and more land being cleared for agriculture and homesites, virgin forests here are becoming scarce. Thus, protected areas like Hawaii Volcanoes and Haleakala National Parks take on great significance as reserves where the native birds will continue to survive. If you wish to learn about Hawaiian birdlife, you will certainly want to spend some time in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and visit Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui. This booklet is meant to be an aid to your trips in the field. Geologically the Hawaiian Islands are considered to be fairly young, probably no more than 20 million years old. The islands are also extremely isolated from any other land masses; it is more than 2,000 miles to the nearest continent. Before any resident birdlife could exist here, plants had to become established. Seeds arrived by various means from distant lands, and one by one new kinds of plants began to grow on the volcanoesat first only a few primitive types could get a foothold on the barren lava, but in time those early plants decayed and combined with the basalt rock to produce a soil that could support a complex vegetation. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 59398
Author: Dunmire, William W.
Release Date: May 1, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Walker, Ronald L