Bermuda’s birdman aims to save cahow cousin
Into every life a little rain must fall, and Andre Raine has had his share.
The Bermudian ornithologist works in the mountains of Kauai, Hawaii, the wettest place on earth.
“I get wet a lot,” said Dr Raine. “Rainstorms come really often. We have to be prepared. We have to have all weather gear when we are out there.”
Dr Raine, 40, is the coordinator of Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project run through the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Department of Forestry. He is helping to save from extinction several seabird species including Newell’s shearwater, a cousin of the cahow.
Human habitation has pushed the endangered birds into the mountains, so to reach them, Dr Raine and his team fly in by helicopter.
“We have to be dropped off and picked up a few days later,” he said. “We camp. There are no people where we go. We have to take all of our equipment with us, and everything we need to eat and drink.”
His work involves observing the birds and some identification tagging.
“They nest in holes in the ground in dense vegetation,” he said. “We do a lot of observation work and sound recording. We do some tracking and banding work and that involves removing them from their burrow.
“They don’t like being removed. I have the scars to prove it. They have a good hook on their beaks. If they get a bite and twist it can be painful.”
The birds spend all day at sea and go back to the mountains at night.
“Peak passage is two hours after dark and two hours before dawn,” said Dr Raine. “That is a pretty antisocial working environment.”
The Newell’s shearwater population in Hawaii has decreased by 75 per cent in the last 20 years.
“Up in the remote areas where there is no one in the dense forest, but you still find feral cats, pigs and rats,” Dr Raine said. “They really hammer the birds. We also have problems with power line collisions. Fledglings get attracted to lights and fall out of the sky and can’t relaunch themselves. We are working with utility companies to try to reverse the decline. It is not as in peril as the cahow but it is not doing well at all.”
Dr Raine is currently in Bermuda to visit family. When he returns to Hawaii this week he will take with him several artificial cahow nest igloos built by conservationist Dr David Wingate to relocate cahows to safer nesting grounds.
“In Hawaii, we would like to translocate some of our birds back to the coast,” said Dr Raine. “We are going to try some of the things that were done in Bermuda with the cahows.”
The Hawaiian rainforest is fairly benign compared to other places Dr Raine has worked such as the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.
“There, everything is out to get you,” he said. “The plants have poisonous spines. You are constantly under attack from insects. It seems like everything is venomous.”
The most dangerous thing about the Hawaiian rainforest is the terrain.
“I work in areas that are 2,000 to 3,000ft up,” he said. “There are lots of plunging cliffs. The undergrowth is dense and sometimes you can’t see your feet. It is often misty and the ground is usually slippery. Luckily, I’ve never hurt myself. We have very strict safety protocols.”
He has worked in conservation around the world.
“Before Hawaii, I was the conservation manager for environmental organisation BirdLife Malta,” he said. “There, I was dealing with bird conservation and also fighting wildlife crime. There is a lot of bird poaching that goes on there.
“People will shoot anything that flies over. I spent a lot of time catching poachers. It certainly involved a lot of confrontation. After Malta, I was looking for something more relaxing because I have a young family.”
He said everywhere has its challenges.
“But each place has been pretty amazing,” he said.
Dr Raine became interested in wildlife at a young age. He became particularly interested in birds after a failed wildlife trip to Vietnam.
“I went there on a volunteer project,” he said. “I was told there were tigers and all kinds of mammals, but when I got there everything had been poached. There were still birds there, though, and I realised that birds were equally amazing.”
He started helping Dr Wingate to save the cahow at just 17-years-old.
Since then, he has written three bird guides including the Photographic Guide to the Birds of Bermuda and numerous scientific publications.
He lives in Hawaii with his wife Helen, and their two children, Maya, 3 and Callum, 6.
Ornithologist Andre Raine’s Kauai recommendations.
If you are looking for an adventurous eco-destination, Kauai has you covered. It offers everything from snorkelling, horseback riding and hiking to all terrain vehicle tours and wildlife watching.
The wet climate makes the landscape very lush and it is known as the “garden island”. It has spectacular scenery from the pinnacles of the Na Pali Coast to deeply carved valleys in Waimea Canyon.
Physically, it’s bigger than Bermuda with 552 square miles, but the population is about the same. Cities such as Lihue and Poipu have fewer than 1,000 people living in them.
• Getting there: Fly to from Bermuda to the east coast and then catch a flight to Los Angeles, California. Dr Raine goes to Kauai by way of Philadelphia. The flight is about five hours. From Los Angeles you can fly direct to Kauai in five hours.
• Be sure to see: Waimea Canyon State Park on the west side of the Island. This has been called the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, although it is not as old or big as its Arizona cousin. It is about ten miles long, a mile wide and 3,600ft deep. The Waimea Canyon Lookout provides gorgeous views of crested buttes, crags and deep gorges. It is a two-hour drive from Hanalei Bay. While you are there, check out the Kokee Natural History Museum, with exhibits on the unique flora of the area, along with maps of hiking trails and nature walks. Rangers are on hand to help you find the most suitable trail for your interests and abilities. www.aloha-hawaii.com/kauai/waimea-canyon/
Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge is a great place to see wildlife such as nesting populations of seabirds, Hawaiian monk seals and the endemic Hawaiian goose, the nene, among other things. www.fws.gov/refuge/kilauea_point/
• Where to stay: Dr Raine likes the Poipu Beach area on the south shore. Poipu translates into “crashing waves”. This area has a lot of nice hotels, spas, restaurants and tourist attractions along the beach. The Travel Channel once named Poipu Beach the best in America. There is snorkelling for the adults and a wading pool for the children. In the summer it can get a little rough, and swimming is safer on the north shore. From October through March, swimming is safer on the east and south shores. At Poipu Beach, from December to May, it is not uncommon to spot humpback whales migrating by. You can also see turtles and seals. The average price of a hotel on the Kauai in the summer is $150 a night and up. It can be less expensive to stay in a guest house or to camp out. www.poipubeach.org/
• Weather: The weather is very similar to Bermuda.
Kauai’s Mount Waialeale receives over 452 inches of rain a year.
