Bob Bourke and his crew of hardworking teenagers will be out on the lake June 10. They will concentrate on cleaning Kimo’s Cove and general trash removal from around the lake.
If a black plastic bag full of trash shows up on your seawall, please help us out by throwing it in your garbage bin.
Any and all helpers are welcome to join in. Call Bob at 256-2057 for more info.
Berm at the Beach Scheduled for Opening by City on June 19
The City’s sand-moving equipment is slated to be delivered to Kailua Beach Park on June 14, and we should see the berm opened by the following Tuesday or Wednesday. We are all looking forward to the resumption of regular monthly openings which will bring in salt water, help control algae growth and improve the water quality in our lake.
‘Alae Ke’o ke’o or Hawaiian Coot
If you look out to the shallows between Kukilakila and the Kaelepulu wetlands, you’ll usually see dozens of gray-black birds bobbing in the water. Often they can be spotted “running” across the lake surface as one chases another. These are the endangered Hawaiian Coot or ‘Alae Ke’o ke’o.
The Hawaiian Coot is a close relative of the American Coot and the Hawaiian birds were only recognized as a distinct species in 1993.
Coot and chick.
Coots have a white bill and bulbous frontal shield. A few have a red shield and white bill with small black markings. Their white undertail feathers are easy to see when they are swimming or diving for food in the shallow water. Their chicks look like punk-rockers with their reddish-orange spiky head plumage. They are able to run and swim soon after hatching but remain in contact with their parents by frequent calling. As they grow older, their feathers turn pale gray and their bills are grayish.
‘Alae Ke’o ke’o eat seeds and leaves of aquatic plants, tadpoles, insects and small fish. Their calls are a chicken-like “keck-keck” along with other clucks and creaks.
Randi Rhodes, a graduate student at UH Manoa, has been studying the coots in the wetland recently. She has banded several of coots from our lake and surprisingly, one of our coots showed up just days later on Kauai!
There were an estimated 1000 plus coots on Ka’elepulu Pond in 1947. In 2004, 50 were observed in the Ka’elepulu Wetland and nearby lake waters. A bird count done a week ago set the record in recent years, 110 coots!
The Enchanted Lake Residents Association (ELRA) is a non-profit organization that holds title to and manages a 79.471 acre portion of Kaelepulu Pond, also known as Enchanted Lake.
The board of the ELRA has taken a pro-active role in the management of the pond, with the ultimate goal of restoring Kaelepulu to support diverse fisheries resources and recreational activities in clean water.
