Nene eggs begin to hatch

8.00 am. Loud deep purrings and songlike murmurings were coming from inside the hau, even before the nest was visible. Something was inspiring these new vocalizations from the female nene. She was sat as usual over the eggs, fussing a little with the sides of the nest, a feather here, a piece of grass there, then for a moment she stood up to look at them and two of the eggs had small holes in them, - one was about the size of a dime, but in a cracked, uneven way - and there were little cheeping sounds coming from within. A beak appeared momentarily outside, and then back inside again. The other hole was a little smaller, and had softer cheeps coming from inside, and a glimpse of soft downy gray movement within. These were the sounds that inspired the mother's response. She lowered herself over the eggs again, her feet either side, and continued her contented purring. It can take up to two days for a Canada goose gosling to open the egg and free itself, chipping away from inside. For some reason, there are only three eggs now. On Christmas Eve she was behaving very similarly, and I noticed an egg missing, but did not see or hear a gosling.
The male arrived about an hour ago with the second female. They were focused on each other and were mating yesterday for at least the second time. He demonstrated in front of her by stretching his head and tail, erect in the air, and then sidestepping towards her with head and neck lowered. In a short while, after feeding on grass, he walked towards the nest and she continued to graze.
It was on the 27th November that the original pair spent the first night apart. The female was constructing her nest in the hau, the male on guard by the river. Nene incubation is said to take between 29 and 31 days. She probably spent a few days preparing the nest and laying before beginning incubation.

11.00 am. The male is aware of the hatching and has begun to change his behavior. For the last two weeks he has been almost inseparable from the unbanded female we call Nahe nahe. In Hawaiian it means small and gentle, and she is a small bird, one of two sisters that were born up river last year. A lot of the time they grazed in the field or flew upriver, occasionally absent for half of the day, giving no response to his first mate’s call, to watch the nest as she fed. This morning he has been standing alone at the edge of the hau, and did not followed Nahe as usual, even when she called to him, he remained in sight of the nest. He does not chase her away, though the nesting female hisses at her if she gets too close, but he does chase the occasional rooster.
The nesting bird has adopted a different position, with wings spread more to her sides. Her whole body moves as if nudged from underneath. At one point she stood up and there was the first clear silhouette of a gray gosling, with a long thin neck swaying from side to side as it tried to stand for the first time. This video was taken about an hour later.

The nesting bird lowers herself very tentatively, probably feeling where the tiny gosling is with her feet and legs. At one point the gosling was beside the large leg band and she would not have been able to feel its movements. There were still two eggs remaining, and she has turned the other one with the hole in it. The rain is loud but the sound of the gosling's voice is just audible beneath that of the mother. There are bouts of activity between periods of rest and each time she raises herself she rotates a little more in the nest.

Hanalei nene nest

I thought the nest was lost this morning, the herd of cattle that run free range in the valley were sleeping under the hau, the vigorous wild hibiscus where the nest is hidden. Carefully I urged them away, stepping within feet of the nest. The goose was nowhere to be seen. It was important they did not stampede. As they left, branches broke around them. The last one refused to move and had to be coaxed out with fruit. They had entered from the back where the hau is less dense, and laid down to rest on the dry ground.
The geese are nervous of the cattle. To a goose they must appear like a double-decker bus on four legs. The bark of a dog in the distance can make them stampede, making their behavior unpredictable. The ranchers herd them with dogs and have rodeo shows on the ranch land, but have permission to graze in the valley, which belongs mostly to the Bishop Estate.
These animals stepping so close in the dark, would have driven her off the nest.
She was by the river and did not return at first, but the male seemed concerned, standing at the edge of the bushes and gazing towards the nest. At last she made her way in, I glimpsed her lifting the leaves off, uncovering large perfect eggs, two or three, and then settling on the nest.
Nene are described as being monogamous. The other birds that lost their nests to pigs earlier in the season were devoted to one another. When the female left the nest to feed, the male guarded it until she returned. He remained close by, 24 hours a day. This male has spent very little time near the nest. He seems loosely connected to it and when she leaves to feed he follows her if he is around. Tonight he flew off with the young female that was born here last year, after being away most of the day with her. His nesing female appears unconcerned about him, but very focused on the nest. He always stands beside the nesting bird when the three are together, and she sometimes chases the other female, but is mostly too busy with feeding and nesting. This pair were inseparable prior to nesting, and he seems to be behaving now as if he has been abandoned. Their number bands suggest they are both about six years old.
At the start of the nesting season, the young female was chased away by her parents. Her big sister formed a pair bond straight away, but this smaller bird, the little sister, rejected four suitors, and continued tagging along with her parents, at a greater distance, even as they nested. Eventually they became more aggressive towards her and she returned to her home base here, and began to tag along with this male, the only male she has tolerated.
Here are some of the new series of drawings I've been working on. The native wetland birds of this ahupua'a (land division, from mountain to reef). Very different from the Washington work, and using a new technique which I will share in another post. To have the river beside me as I work, and several species of endangered water birds interacting around it, is a great gift.
Today was warm and sunny, the waves in the bay are reaching 25' on the face and forecast to get bigger by morning, with an extra high tide expected, there are coastal flood warnings, and some serious surfers around.

Aholehole & Nene by Hanalei stream

It's dark this morning, no moon or stars, but the roar of big surf in Hanalei bay, and the singing of crickets, so many of them, the sound merges and is constant. Every so often a different sound is amongst them, louder like a small bell being tinkled , it must be another species. They say every miniature eco system in Hawaii evolved a different species of cricket, sometimes only yards apart. The surf is louder, there'll be some happy surfers today. The sound of a cock crowing, but no responses yet.
Yesterday was sunny and the river water clear above the rocks, all the details of the aholehole were revealed, big eyes, that respond rapidly to any movement and sparkling silver sides. Their Hawaiian name means "sparkling" and the fish was used in ceremonies to keep evil away. These are half grown young ones, swimming near the river mouth, moving easily between salt water and fresh. They will spend their later years along the edge of the reef and grow up to 10 inches. Most days I throw some breadcrumbs for them, it is a joy to see every fish come and follow the one that catches it.
Two nene geese came over, one for a drink and the other preened as he guarded the nest. Nene are still on the endangered list, at one time they were down to only 30 birds left in the wild. With captive breeding programmes they have been reintroduced to islands where they had become extinct, but only on, hopefully, mongoose free Kauai have they been able to breed successfully. outside sanctuaries. they still face challenges, last month I witnessed two nests being destroyed by free range pigs, in one instance the pig had the male nene pinned to the ground, luckily only by its tail, and was mouthing his back, whilst another was eating the eggs from the nest as the female stood beside. I was moments too late. The nene drinking is their daughter from last year and she has been using the garden as a place of safety since. A fenced acre with no dogs, only the occasional feral cat. She is the only bird tolerated by the preening male on the other side.
He and his mate have already lost one nest this season, October, November, December, and this is a second and probably last attempt for the year. The eggs are very large and the female is the only one I've seen incubating, she spends so little time feeding, she must be in need of nourishment, two attempts are more than enough.
She sits under the hau bushes, her nest is a bowl shaped mound of dry leaves which she carefully covers when she leaves. Her mate has been a poor guard, often leaving for hours at a time, and even mating with the other young female. Unlike the pair before, whose mate never let his guard down.There is a picture of her on the nest but she is so well camouflaged in the exact centre.

Female nene on her nest. She's well camouflaged. Can you spot her - right in the center of this photo?