Rising Tide Images
Kolea Tux
A male kōlea in breeding plumage fattens up for migration. Kōlea migrate from Hawaii to Alaska for a five-month breeding season. The trip spans over approximately 3,000 miles of open ocean requiring a rigorous, energy intensive effort of 3 to 4 days and nights of nonstop flight at elevation ranging from 3,000 to 16,000 feet. A superb navigator with territorial fidelity, kōlea use the stars and the earth’s magnetic field to find their way over the featureless ocean to the same small patch of territory every year. They may use the earth’s magnetic field visually with the magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in their retina. This one winters in Hawaii. Some will migrate north from the southern hemisphere. Pacific golden plover, kōlea, Pluvialis fulva.
Kolea Tux
A male kōlea in breeding plumage fattens up for migration. Kōlea migrate from Hawaii to Alaska for a five-month breeding season. The trip spans over approximately 3,000 miles of open ocean requiring a rigorous, energy intensive effort of 3 to 4 days and nights of nonstop flight at elevation ranging from 3,000 to 16,000 feet. A superb navigator with territorial fidelity, kōlea use the stars and the earth’s magnetic field to find their way over the featureless ocean to the same small patch of territory every year. They may use the earth’s magnetic field visually with the magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in their retina. This one winters in Hawaii. Some will migrate north from the southern hemisphere. Pacific golden plover, kōlea, Pluvialis fulva.