All About Albatrosses      

The albatrosses are true seabirds who visit us only when they reproduce. The rest of their lives, they live out on the open water, gliding above it with locked wings or resting on its surface, catching squid at night and trying to avoid sharks. They stay out there for years. "If they could mate and incubate on water, they would," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and albatross expert Brenda Zaun.

Of the world's estimated 450,000 nesting pairs of albatrosses, 75 to 80 percent are found on Kauai (the only Hawaiian island to host them) and other islands in the Northwest Pacific, especially Laysan and Midway. Kauai has about 165 nesting pairs each year, nearly all of them the Laysan species, and they are here from early November until the chicks fledge in July.

Albatrosses mate for life, and the mating process is a long and loud affair, with dancing, bill clacking, honking, and neck-raised, throat-gurgling calls that can go on for days before they settle down. Raising a chick will be hard work for both of them. "It's important that they choose a good mate. If there's a divorce, the chick will die," Zaun said.

The males and females share child rearing duties equally. The male starts building the simple nest from grass, usually near an ocean bluff or on a golf course, and the female adds to it. Usually the same pairs return to start a new nest that's within 100 to 1,000 feet of the previous one. Fledged chicks will later return to the place they fledged from. (Biologists know because they have banded all the birds.)Then the two-month incubation period begins. The male takes the first shift, sitting on the egg for three to four weeks while the female goes out for squid. Then the pair switches off every 10 days to two weeks. Sometimes the birds fly all the way to San Francisco Bay to find squid, their preferred food. A nesting pair lays only one egg, and if anything happens to it, they will not lay another.

Nor will they move from their nest if the egg is moved. That has been a problem in Kauai, because some 50 pairs of the birds nest on the grounds of the west side's Pacific Missile Range. The Navy doesn't want them, because the birds can get caught in propellers and cause a crash. But since the adult birds are programmed to nest there, trying to move them is futile. They have been moved six to eight times, and each time they returned to their old nesting sites. So instead, biologists have been moving their eggs to nests on the North Shore where an egg didn't hatch or a chick didn't survive. The adults take good care of their adopted young ones, and the chicks who fledge from the adoptive nests later return there -- not, thankfully, to the missile range.

Baby chicks look like little porcupines, covered with black tufts of down (see photos ).They appear helpless, and for the first two-and-a-half weeks, they are. In this stage, they need their parents' body heat to keep them warm, and the adults periodically continue sitting on them. Then there is an abrupt shift. The growing chick, now able to withstand rain and wind, is left all alone for days, and later weeks at a time while both parents go foraging for food. The chick eats the regurgitated fish mixture from its parent's bill. It cannot digest tuna fish or other food that well-meaning humans sometimes offer it, thinking the parents have abandoned it. Parents don't abandon their chicks, but it does take two of them to get enough food to feed the family. A three to four month old chick can weigh more than its parents. If one adult dies, the chick won't make it. Tuna fish won't help -- unfortunately, there's nothing you can do but let nature take its course. 

Because these ground nesters originally had no natural predators on the islands, they don't have any defense against attackers. They don't even know to flee. The main problem they have today is with dogs. Dogs can destroy an entire colony, and that has happened on Kauai. Last year, 28 birds were killed at one time by a dog, or possibly two or three dogs. Before that, 12 other birds were killed in the same area. Now a fence has been erected there, but it is important not to let dogs run wild near any nesting albatrosses.

In addition to predators on land, which can include rats, birds, pigs, and even the occasional cat as well as dogs, the seabirds face a new enemy at sea, one that nature has not equipped them to recognize or deal with, and that is plastic. Bottle caps, plastic lighters, plastic toys, fishing lures -- all have been found in the stomachs of birds that did not survive. A bird with a full belly can starve to death if there's too much plastic inside. Sometimes they are able to regurgitate it, but baby birds are not able to regurgitate until they're four months old. Birds also face hazards from long line fisheries, power lines, vehicles, and people who collect their feathers and eggs.

It's a rough life, but the birds are thriving. If they make it to fledging, they can live a long time. No one knows exactly how long they live, but a 51-year-old bird was found in Midway, still enjoying life and reproducing, passing along its sturdy genes.

One of the most heartwarming sights on Kauai is watching a baby albie learn to fly. Before that happens, they spend months on the ground, waddling awkwardly and playing with leaves and strands of grass while their parents are away. Mostly they sleep, but they become increasingly active toward the end. Gradually they lose their down, and long white or black mature feathers appear, though they keep the fuzz on the tops of their heads until they leave. The wings are the last part of the bird to develop, and once they start stretching and flapping them, it's time for flight practice.

They use a runway to get a running start, and sometimes this is an actual sloped driveway at someone's home. The bird will run down it at full tilt, flap, flap, flap, and if the wind is right, it will rise about three feet into the air, where it soars for a few seconds before landing, waddling back to the runway, and starting the process again. And again, and again. From watching them, it would seem that these big babies need another week or two of practice before heading off to the dangers of the open sea. But once they have gotten off the ground, they are inevitably gone the next day. Instinct leads them to the waters where their ancestors have fished for generations, and it tells them what to do. They live out on the sea for the next three to seven years before returning to their nesting site to choose a mate. They can sleep on the water, or even on the wing. They are magnificent fliers. They can lock their wings so they don't need to flap, and can shut down the left side of their brain to sleep while flying. 

Soon after the young fledge, the parents, who are already spending most of their time at sea by now anyway, also leave the land. The abandoned nests can be a mournful sight to those of us who have watched the families for months on our evening strolls. But in another few months we will see them again, soaring and circling above the island until some neuron fires in their brain and tells them, "That's it, that's where my nest was! Now I am home."

Change, Welcome and Unwelcome

Kauai is an island in transition. As the last newsletter made clear, luxury developments are being planned all around the island, some in areas that were not previously associated with high-end resorts. We have been discovered, and an increasingly well-heeled clientele wants to own a piece of the island. But so do the not-so-well-heeled, many of whom feel they are being priced out. And then there are the long-time residents, who often have mixed feelings about development. Though their property values have skyrocketed, they are feeling the ground beneath them shift in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable. 

A couple of recent letters to the editor published in our local newspaper, the Garden Island, illustrate some of these concerns. One reader received a survey from Grove Farm asking for his input on a proposal to upgrade and privatize the Puakea golf course. Would he consider a golf membership wit an initiation fee of $40,000 and monthly dues of $275? Or might he consider a merely social membership for a $25,000 initiation fee and dues of $195 a month?

"Who are they kidding?" demanded the reader, who was clearly someone the letter was not intending to target.

"Stop all resort development now," another reader wrote. "Resume only when there is a concrete plan in place showing that the development will have no adverse impact on traffic, beauty of the island, or quality of life for its neighbors."

Most of us can identify with these readers' concerns. And yet it seems inevitable that Kauai, with its extraordinary natural beauty, would become a vacation and investment haven during this time when economists tell us there is an unprecedented amount of excess capital floating throughout the world, looking for a home. Sometimes a beautiful island makes a more appealing home than an appreciating stock, especially when mortgage interest rates are at record lows (still) and diversification of assets is the only safety net. The demand side of the equation is pretty easy to understand.

On the supply side, the inventory is very limited, which drives prices up. It is limited not only by burgeoning demand, but by the constraints of geography -- much of the island's interior is too steep or too wet for development -- and of government. The island's master plan mandates that only four percent of the island can ever be developed. We have already developed between two and two-and-a-half percent. So while development in this high cycle is spreading apace, it will never cover the island, or even the developable periphery. We will always have lots of green space on the Garden Island. But because of that, the land that can be developed is more precious, and more pricey.

So what can be done to provide homes for those who grew up here, but can't afford to buy homes for their families? What about traffic problems? What about visitors who aren't multi-millionaires, but would still like to have a vacation home here?

These are the problems that Kauai is struggling with as the island continues to grow and change. There is no perfect solution, but the issues the readers bring up are being addressed. Affordable housing for residents who qualify is now being built through public/private partnerships, and a vast number of new units is planned for the next few years. A temporary bypass has been funded for  the heart of Kapaa, where traffic is worst. A new trend of official shared ownership is sprouting up in our real estate listings to accommodate visitors who can't afford to buy a home or condo here on their own. None of these solutions will make everyone happy. But we can't turn back the clock and bring back the plantations either. Despite some half-hearted attempts to establish a high-tech center and to encourage small farming -- even though it isn't profitable -- the fact is that tourism is our economic lifeblood, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Responsible development, that magic catch-phrase, is the only path before us, and no one is quite sure what it specifically means or how to achieve it. Because so many other communities have done a poor job of balancing development with quality of life, cynics view the whole concept as an oxymoron. But anyone who spends enough time on Kauai will experience, and begin to express, a sense of relaxation and aloha, even beneath a veneer of cynicism. If we can hang onto that open, relaxed frame of mind while contemplating our problems, it may lead us to more creative solutions.

Costco Coming After All

It's official: even though the new developers have been taking reservations for condos at Coco Palms for months, the sale of the whole property just closed in late January, and now the new owners can start the $220 million redevelopment of the long-abandoned hotel, restoring it to its Elvis Presley glory days. It is supposed to reopen in the summer of 2008, with 196 condos and 48 hotel bungalows, not counting Elvis' room from the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii, which will preserved as a showpiece. The resort is spread across 16 acres of land and bordered by another 17 acres of state-owned land, including a large coconut grove. Long before Elvis and Hollywood arrived, the Kapaa spot was a favorite for Hawaiian royalty. The developers intend to keep the Polynesian style buildings as close as possible to the original -- the Hollywood original, that is. A bypass will be built to connect the resort to the beach and restaurants.

First, there were rumors that Costco was going to build a store here. Then there were rumors that the discount chain had backed out, frustrated by high building costs. But now Costco officials are saying they will definitely put a store here, and they expect it to open in August. Traffic and parking plans are being hashed out and the company still has to pull building permits for its 150,000-square-foot warehouse store and self-service gas station, but the development itself has been approved and is definitely going to happen. Building costs have zoomed up from 30 to 200 percent everywhere since last fall's devastating hurricane season, company officials said, but that won't stop them from building a store on Kauai.

Resort Musical Chairs

The Aloha Beach Resort, formerly the Holiday Inn, is changing hands once again, for the fifth time in the past decade. No word yet on the new owners, who have the property in escrow, but the current management company hopes to continue to manage the property. Not far away from the resort, which is situated along Kuhio Highway near Lydgate Park between Kapaa and Lihue, the Courtyard by Marriott resort at Waipouli Beach is also set to hit the market later in February. The strength of the island's economy is what is driving the resort sales and resales, according to county officials.

Kukuiula Bypass Construction Begins

On the south side of the island, roadwork for the massive Kukuiula development is due to begin in February. The Alexander & Baldwin and DMB Associates development will begin building a $13 million bypass road required by the county to minimize traffic impact for the 1,000-acre development, which will include 1200 or more homes, an elite spa, a golf course, trails, a park, and a village center. The bypass road, which will run from the project's entrance at Lawai Road north to Koloa Road, is expected to take 20 months to complete.

Poipu Village

Land is being acquired for another, smaller development on the island's south side. Poipu Village, a series of plantation-style homes, will be built in two phases. The builders are purchasing a tract of land from the Knudsen family, and when that transaction is complete, they will build 50 plantation-style homes of 2000 to 2200 square feet, initially estimated to sell for $900,000 to $1 million each. This is a very desirable area, with no ocean views, but just a block and a half from popular Poipu Beach Park. Nothing is for sale yet, but please contact me if you would like to place your name on a reservation list. After the first phase of the project gets underway, the developers plan to buy another parcel from the Knudsens and build another 85 plantation-style homes. Plans call for  all the homes to be fulltime residences, not vacation rentals.

Dismantling a Plantation Relic

If you haven't visited the island in awhile and you drive into Lihue from the north, you will notice that something is not quite the same ... but what is it? It's the old Lihue sugar plantation flume that used to cross over the highway like an overhead bridge as you headed from the old shops of Lihue town up the hill toward the shopping mall. It's gone, removed by the old sugar mill's new owners for safety reasons. Somehow I miss that rusty old hulk, a ghostly reminder of Kauai's past as a sugar town. It was built in 1954 and brought sugar cane from the fields to the Lihue mill until the mill closed in 2000. Still visible from the highway are the extensive ironworks of the plant itself, which appear equally rusty, a comforting old relic. No one knows yet why the new Seattle owners bought the plant, or what they plan to do with it.

A Conservation Milestone 

Another parcel of prime land in Kilauea has been acquired for permanent preservation and public ownership. A three-acre parcel along the Kilauea River that serves as a habitat for endangered seabirds and was purchased with $1.46 million in federal funds and $50,000 from the Nature Conservancy from the Zweben family, and is now owned by the Kauai Public Land Trust. In addition to preserving animal habitat, the land, which is adjacent to another five-acre parcel previously donated by the Zweben family, will be used for public beach access, a subject of increasing contention on the island.

Welcome to Historic Hanepepe 

Visitors to Hanapepe, a small western-style town on the way to Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Park, can now go on a historic walking tour that will give them a feel for Kauai of days gone by. Plaques have been mounted on 14 historic buildings in the town, along with vintage photos and brief written descriptions of their history. Hanapepe is an interesting town, founded by immigrants and one of the few locations on Kauai that was not started as a sugar plantation or housing for sugar plantation workers. Many of the descendants of the original small business owners still live in the area, and if you stop for coffee or lunch, you may meet some of them and learn even more about the town's history. Tour maps are available for $2 in the art galleries that are now a main feature of the town. On Friday nights, the galleries stay open late for the town's Art Night.

Real Estate 

January statistics show appreciation continuing at a good rate. Median sales price for a North Shore home rose to $1,187,500, a 41 percent increase over January 2005's $842,500. Median land sales prices showed a decrease from $3,200,000 in 2005 to $1,710,000 this January, but that is because some high-end sales closed at this time last year, but not this year. However, some major land deals have closed since the statistics were released, and next month's record will reflect that. But don't let the statistics mislead you into thinking there is no more affordable land left on the North Shore. There are still desirable lots available in Princeville resort in the $500,000s. Land sale statistics skew upward because outside of Princeville, most land is zoned in acreage and sells for above $1 million. North Shore condo sales slowed slightly compared to last year's, with a median price of $538,493 compared to last January's $570,000. But prices for ocean view condos have definitely gone up.

On the South Shore, median home price was $512,250, a 21 percent increase over January 2005's $425,000. Land valued increased 35 percent from $295,000 to $398,000, and condos jumped 44 percent, from January 2005's median of $506,000 to $730,000. Please remember that South Shore statistics include a lot of land that is not in the resort area of Poipu, and values in Poipu itself are higher, comparable to Princeville's.