The Wild Parrots of Kailua-Kona
September 11, 2008 — Filed in: Feral, Naturalized and City Parrots
Like the more recently arrived coqui frogs, the wild parrots of Kailua-Kona are usually heard before they are seen. Their piercing shrieks help keep the flocks together as they forage for food from the shoreline up to the slopes of Hualalai. Most people watch with pleasure as their brilliant feathers flash in the sunlight. Others, however, are concerned that the wild parrots may destroy seed and fruit crops, as well as crowd out native seabirds from their natural habitats.
Parrots are represented by several hundred species worldwide, including macaws, cockatoos, lorikeets, lovebirds and parakeets. The ones most likely to be seen near Kailua-Kona are various species of South American conures with emerald-green bodies, red heads and pointed tails.
“It can be difficult for the average person to distinguish among cherry-headed conures, mitered conures and Wagler’s conures in the field,” said USGS wildlife biologist Dr.Thane Pratt. “To be sure you would almost need to have the bird in hand.”
Cherry-headed conures are established at Diamond Head on Oahu and are also featured in the popular documentary, “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.” Mitered conures have settled into the Haiku District of Maui, and Wagler’s conures are established near the upper reaches of the Kaloko subdivision above North Kona.
Those who have traveled the higher elevations of Hualalai probably remember a raucous flock of green and red parrots swooping overhead. According to retired DLNR wildlife biologist Jon Giffin, these date back to an accidental release of Wagler’s conures from a private aviary in Kaloko in 1989.
Rob Pacheco, owner of Hawaii Forest and Trail Ltd., notes that for many years the conures nested on the vertical cliff walls of the Hinakapoula pit crater.
“For some reason, we haven’t been seeing them in the crater for the past couple of years. Maybe their nesting sites were damaged by rockfalls in the big earthquake, or perhaps they have just found nesting sites closer to their feeding areas,” he said.
Although this flock is most often seen near Kaloko, they fly down as far as Huggo’s on Alii Drive when their favorite trees are in seed.
A subspecies of burrowing parrots from Patagonia is often spotted near Keauhou Bay. According to Sea Quest boat captain Shawny Raike, they have become such a regular attraction for visiting guests that they have dubbed one location between Keauhou and Hokulia “Parrot Cove.”
“Tourists love to see them,” Raike said.
Rumor has it that these particular parrots escaped 16 years ago from a cargo crate at Kona International Airport, she added.
“Guests are especially excited to see them when there are babies on the nests,” fellow captain Kyle Fields said, adding that they tend to see more birds along the cliffs during the spring than at any other time of year.
In their native South America, the birds normally dig their own nests in steep mountainsides, but in Hawaii they have adapted to the numerous cavities and lava tubes along the face of the pali, Fields said.
Because wild parrots nest on the same type of rocky cliffs as tropic birds and boobies, some people are concerned that growing parrot populations will pose a threat to native seabirds. According to consulting biologist Reggie David, however, the cliffs that local parrots use are too low to be attractive to seabirds. On the negative side, these mischievous birds enjoy stripping gaskets out of the light fixtures in Keauhou.
A flock of feral rose-ringed parakeets in West Hawaii poses a threat to fruit trees, such as lychee. The parakeets are messy feeders, damaging many fruit for each one that they actually eat. They have been sighted as far afield as Waimea, Waikoloa and even South Hilo. David said the state has designated them an “agricultural pest,” allowing property owners to remove them at will without a permit. Oddly enough, wild parrots love chili peppers but avoid coffee beans and avocados.
Scott Williamson, assistant district supervisor for the USDA wildlife services, worked on green-cheeked Amazons on Oahu before being assigned to Kauai, where rose-ringed parakeets are a problem.
“I am not aware of any eradication efforts to date. That would be a tough problem for somebody to handle someday,” he said.
Instead, the USDA focuses on excluding them from specific locations where they are pests, such as seed corn fields.
“Even if you wanted to try shooting them, I don’t believe that it would really be very effective,” Williamson said. “These are very aware birds, and you would just frighten the flock away to another feeding area.”
Certainly Maui’s efforts to eradicate the flock of mitered conures at Huelo have been frustrating. According to a 2003 Honolulu Advertiser article, a private group tried unsuccessfully to lure the birds into enclosures, and proposals to shoot them met with community protests. The birds are still there.
USDA wildlife research biologist Will Pitt said although no state or federal efforts are under way to eradicate wild parrots on the Big Island, if residents wait until they become a real pest, control efforts will be much more expensive and less likely to succeed. After all, nobody thought the coqui frog was a problem in the beginning.
Given the lack of enthusiasm for eradication efforts, “control” of wild parrots in Hawaii really boils down to preventing the introduction of new species.
“It is important for people to understand that they shouldn’t release these birds into the wild. We haven’t been getting reports of agricultural damage so far, but as their populations increase they are likely to become a problem down the road,” said Miles Nakahara, wildlife biologist with the DNLR.
The DNLR is keeping track of parrot nesting areas in case of future avian disease outbreaks, he added.
In a 2007 report, Pitt and co-authors Doug Runde and J.T. Foster identify 24 different species of parrots sighted in Hawaii since 1990. Many of these are probably escaped pets facing a severely truncated lifespan once thrust into the wild. Dorothy Walsh, co-owner of Parrots in Paradise Sanctuary in South Kona, said individual birds raised in a cage make easy prey for Hawaiian hawks. They are not good foragers, and their bright colors make them easy targets for the io.
Dorothy and her husband, Jerry Walsh, who co-owned Kainaliu Gardens for almost 20 years, now devote their energies to a nonprofit shelter for abused or orphaned parrots.
“Part of our mission,” she said, “is to educate the public about the huge responsibility that comes with owning a parrot. Most of them have the potential to outlive their owners. They are very social animals that demand a lot of attention.”
Their numbers fluctuate as new birds are brought in and rehabilitated parrots are placed into suitable homes.
Some parrots do not relate kindly to strangers. Some imprint more on women than men; others prefer males.
Several of their cages have padlocks on the doors because the parrots are talented escape artists.
In fact, said Jerry Walsh, nearly every collection of parrots includes one nicknamed Houdini.
Like Madagascar day geckos, Jackson chameleons and saffron finches, these colorful immigrants are probably here to stay.
“There are so many species of introduced plants, insects, amphibians and mammals on the island, that we have a lot worse problems to concern ourselves with than a few wild parrots,” Dorothy Walsh said.
More info
For further information, contact the following companies:
- Hawaii Forest and Trail Ltd.
(808) 331-8585
- Parrots in Paradise Sanctuary
http://www.parrotsinparadise.com
(808) 322-3006
- Sea Quest Rafting Adventure
