In last week’s Sunday Stills, Terri included a photo of a bald eagle with a transmitter on its back. In the comments, I mentioned that those trackers don’t stay on that long. Cue a few days ago when I saw this nene at Upolu. When I see nenes at Upolu, I report them to a contact at the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DNLR). The DNLR uses sighting information to build a picture of where the nenes are and where they go.
This is 32A, a bird I first saw in January of 2020. Back then, he didn’t have a tracker, but shortly after I saw him, one was attached. The DNLR thought the bird might be flying to and from Maui, but it turns out he wasn’t. Instead, the tracker has shown he mostly flies between Upolu, Hakalau, and Mauna Kea, all on the Big Island. However, the tracker is still on and still working, and I learned that they generally work for 3 to 5 years.
The reason I know this bird is 32A, besides the tracker, is that many nenes have bands on their legs to help with identification. In the second photo, the bands can be seen at grass level. The smaller band, on the left leg, is a US Fish and Wildlife tag. I’ve never been able to see any information on this smaller tag on any of the birds I’ve seen. The tag on the right leg is actually gray and shows the bird is one of almost 600 birds that were moved to the Big Island from a golf course near Kaua’i airport, between 2011 and 2016. These birds more than doubled the population of Big Island birds at that time. The fact that the tag is on the right leg means the bird is a male. The fact that the tag is brown and barely readable shows this bird has been wading through some very muddy conditions!
Graham's Island 
A lovely looking bird. Thanks for all the information and for doing the reporting as well. How far is their flight between those locations?
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Mauna Kea and Hakalau are very close together. Their distance from Hawi is around 40 miles, as the nene flies!
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Thanks
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Sorry tried to comment from my phone but couldn’t log in! Anyway, see if I can remember what I wrote… that is amazing to see another bird with a tracker and that DLNR can track location with such detail, Graham. I wonder how they attach them and why the tracker was attached to the female bald eagle? My stepdaughter lives near there, perhaps she can find out some info. It will be interesting to find out. The nene is a very handsome fella!
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I wonder how they attach them too. Hopefully not with nails! It would be interesting to find out what they do with the eagle tracking. I’ve seen monk seals with trackers here also, but I don’t think they stay on as long, possibly because they’re in the water.
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Between the two of us, maybe we can solve this growing mystery!
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The trackers on both the nenes and monk seals are simply to track where they go. They’re endangered species so information about their behavior is helpful when considering ways to help their populations rebound. Nene numbers are on the upswing. Monk seal number are also improving around the main Hawaiian islands, but declining somewhat in the northwestern chain, which is worrisome because that’s where their numbers are highest.
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