[Pollinator] Fw: Kamehameha Day, and hawaiian birds

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Hello Pollinator Colleagues:

I have been out of the office and so missed forwarding this message to you 
in a timely manner. Nonetheless, I thought you might find the email below 
to be of interest - especially the 30-minute video on Hawaiian birds.

Enjoy!
-Patricia

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist, Division of Scientific Authority-US Fish & Wildlife 
Service-International Affairs
Chair, Medicinal Plant Working Group-Plant Conservation Alliance
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276

Promoting sustainable use and conservation of our native medicinal plants. 

<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>

Follow International Affairs
> on Twitter  http://twitter.com/USFWSInternatl
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----- Forwarded by Patricia De Angelis/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI on 06/14/2012 10:30 
AM -----

"Leonard, Patrick" <Patrick_Leonard at fws.gov> 
06/08/2012 04:57 PM

To
FW9 AIA-STAFF <fw9_arl_aia-staff at fws.gov>
cc

Subject
Kamehameha Day, and hawaiian birds






June 11?next Monday?is Kamehameha Day, a state holiday in Hawaii 
celebrating Kamehameha I, who unified the Kingdom of Hawaii and ended the 
wars among the Hawaiian people. Although his methods may have been a 
little extreme (anyone who has stopped at the Pali lookout between 
Honolulu and Kailua may know what I mean), it?s still a pretty big party 
in the islands, one of the few days each year when native and local people 
take Waikiki back from the mainland and Japanese tourists who occupy it 
most of the time.
 
There?s a small version of the party here in DC. The National Statuary 
Hall has a copy of a famous statue of Kamehameha that on June 11 gets 
covered with lei, with a celebration that?s a rare opportunity to see 
authentic hula here on the mainland. It may be a coincidence but now that 
we have a President from Hawaii, the Kamehameha statue has a prominent 
place in Emancipation Hall at the new Capital visitors center. (Unless it 
got moved back in the last couple years.)
 
It?s worth checking out, even if you can?t make it on 6/11. Take a close 
look at his helmet and cloak; for one thing, it?s the most authentic part 
of the statue (it?s pretty unlikely Kamehameha had such European 
features); although it?s cast in bronze and gold leaf, his actual cloak 
and helmet would have been made of many thousands of tiny yellow and red 
feathers of native Hawaiian birds. It seems impossible now that they ever 
could have existed in enough numbers to make such things possible.
 
Which leads us to this: ABC recently produced a 30-minute video on the 
extinction crisis among Hawaiian birds; it?s really pretty good (if a 
little bird-centric; the extinction crisis in Hawaii involves more than 
birds), with some good?even remarkable?shots of very rare forest birds 
(and interviews with a number of old friends). Watching it seems to me 
like a good way to celebrate Hawaii?s national day. You can find it at:
 
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/oceansandislands/eh.html
 
I hope you all have a good weekend; aloha e kakou,
 
p.l.
 
 
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