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March 28, 2022 When I moved from the mainland to Hawaii in 1983, I laughed at residents who didn't swim or snorkel in winter because it was too cold. Now, I'm one of them. But in addition to big surf and cool temperatures keeping me out of the ocean this winter, I've [...]
A White Tern chick after a rainstorm. ©Susan Scott January 11, 2022 Our Kolea may have loved the recent Kona storm (see https://bit.ly/33e52DM) but Honolulu’s Manu-o-Ku did not. The wind and rain blasted their branches and doused their chicks. Even so, according to volunteers who monitor the city’s White Tern’s, Manu-o-Ku [...]
Posted May 15, 2020 “Did you see anything?” A man painting our Waialua apartment building asked me that last week as I headed, dripping wet, with mask, snorkel and fins in hand, toward the door. He added, “I heard there’s not much out there.” “I saw a lizardfish," I said. A lizardfish propped [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott November 30, 2018 The University of Hawaii Press released “Hawaii’s White Terns, Manu-ô-Ku, an Urban Seabird” last week. Most of what we know about our city’s much-loved white terns is in the book, and although my name is on the cover as the author, [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott May 5, 2018 Few seabirds get their own annual party, but then, white terns are not your average seabirds. Like so many of their human counterparts, white terns have become smitten with our city. The birds particularly like the variety of tall, neatly trimmed [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott December 9, 2017 If visions of fairy terns dance in your head this month, they’re not holiday hallucinations. For the second year in a row, Honolulu’s white terns (the official name for what we once called fairy terns or angel terns) are having a [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott March 13, 2017 Last week I walked into Waikiki with 11 other Oahu residents, zigzagging through tourists, street performers and pamphlet-givers. But we weren’t there to people-watch. We were there to see some of our city’s most charming marine animals: white terns. Most people [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott September 24, 2016 If you love the white terns that flit around our trees and add joy to our city, join the club. Really. There is a club. After my recent white tern column, I learned that several like-minded Oahu residents, researchers and conservation [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott September 10, 2016 Nuuanu resident Robert emailed, “For the last few years we have been blessed by beautiful white birds cavorting in the sky, swooping all over our valley at great speed. They never seem to go to ground, although they have settled for [...]
Published in the Ocean Watch column, Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott December 31, 2016 Most of my email this year was for the birds, specifically Pacific golden plovers (kolea) and white terns (manu-o-Ku), the native species that choose to grace our city. The birds are doing what it takes in this era to survive on [...]
