Nene in Oahu

The Nene, a.k.a. the Hawaiian Goose, is the state bird. She is endemic to Hawaii, which means you might catch her at a random zoo or travelling circus, but to see her at home, you have to come to Hawaii.

I love that the Hawaiians call their goose Nene and force the birding world, and the world at large, to do it too. To me, it indicates a fondness for the bird that few official names do. After all, you can’t imagine someone saying:

“What are you doing this weekend?”
“Going hunting. Hoping to bag a few Nene!”

But of course people did hunt the Nene — for food and for her beautiful and soft, warm feathers. They also introduced the rat and mongoose to the islands who quickly found her eggs easy pickings. So sadly, the Nene is endangered. In 1950, there were only 30 Nene left. Now after conservation efforts, they have a couple hundred.

They say the Nene is a child of a Canada Goose who stumbled upon the islands 500,000 years ago. Growing up on a volcanic land, she adapted. She now has strong, padded toes and reduced webbing between them so she can more easily forage and nest on cooled lava plains. She has “barring” on her neck that is not actually barring, but deep furrows that I imagine allow her neck to cool. And she gave up some feathers that she once used for long migratory flights. She found paradise — no need to leave!

While reading up on the Nene, I was sad to discover they live only on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai — not Oahu where we were staying. So you can imagine my delight when we went for a drive around the island and saw a gathering of geese. I grabbed Mark’s arm and shouted — “Nene!” Luckily Mark doesn’t scare easy — without a word, he pulled over and waited as I took the following pictures…

Aren’t they sweet? The tall one kept a suspicious eye on me the whole time, watching out for her crew.

Okay, my confession: These are not Nene, but I didn’t realize it until sitting down to write this post. Note that the beak and feet are pink, not black as the Nene. What we have here is the Pink-Footed Goose, a migratory bird found in Great Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands, who breed in even colder climes. Some folks clearly have dragged her to Oahu, but I heard no complaints!

Here are some real Nene:

(Courtesy of Ducks.org)

(Courtesy of To-Hawaii.com)

And video…. http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/nene/

So apparently, Mark and I still need to go to Kauai to meet her in person!

* * *

Before I let you go, I have to say a few words about down…. Down is made of the soft warm inner feathers of a goose’s chest. A mother goose will pluck some of these feathers to line her nest for her babies, and she loses some naturally during molt. But we don’t gather down by lurking near nesting Nene, waiting for a stray feather to escape. And we don’t do it by rolling out a big wind machine and a few nets. If only we did.

I’ll spare you the gory details, you can find them on your own. But let me say that down production is what helps keep foie-gras manufacturing a viable business. Many people abstain from foie-gras for ethical reasons, but they forget about down.

There was a time when down was the best way to stay warm. But I’ve been using down-alternative coats and comforters for years and they are great — just as soft and warm, and no pointy quills to poke out at you… scratching at your guilty conscience. 😉 So when you’re shopping for your next down coat, think about how many geese died to fill that coat, and look on the next rack for a down-alternative. They’re right there.

Mahalo.