All know that Hawaii is the birth state of Nicole Kidman , Barack Obama and Bette Midler, and that it's the youngest of the US states. Its capital is Honolulu. Actually, is there anything else to tell about this relatively small group of islands in The Pacific Ocean...? Oh yes, there is something pretty essential.
Hawaii is a major tourist attraction, and a variety of birds and "birds" live and especially visit it every year. What makes a difference is that most of the birds learn to fly very young, but the "birds" will never manage without help. Many of those that can't fly have been imported, and live in man-made constructions called "houses" or "buildings". The others usually live in trees or among vegetation having some kind of symbiotic relationship with the protecting tree structure, worms and bugs. The two birds know and see each other every day, but don't communicate at an intelligent level. Still. the both groups enjoy nice weather throughout the year. Because the discussion about the "concept of species" still today is quite controversial, there is no need to make a difference between them in this talk, so let's just call them all birds.
Of the birds on the left, many have poor flying abilities, and may spend an extensive amount of time in sandy areas called "beaches". On the other hand, flying species as the one on the right prefer evergreen areas where they also find some of their nutrition. The birds on beaches don't have a chance of finding anything edible in sand, and many of them use the males of their species for that purpose - in one way or another. Knowing the name of the game, in mutual understanding, the males attract the attention of the female population e.g. with floating devices equipped with a fancy looking vertical canvas.
Inhabited buildings and houses tend to be located next to sandy areas as this is very practical for feeding purposes. If the shore line only consists of bare volcanic rocks, finding sufficient amounts of food or feasible feeding areas may sometimes be hard. As the "beach birds" aren't always able to find food, they occasionally are completely dependent on the male population. Moreover, these birds regularly seem to waste tons of exchange units for unimportant items like new "feathers" or "beak paint". For this reason, even gross approaches made by constantly circling "vultures" may be taken into account. But who's the benefactor, and who will eventually pay the bill? Or, is this a common symbiotic phenomenon, characteristic to the nature?
One of the best vulture tactics is to establish an observation post in front of a public feeding and drinking facility. Under normal circumstances a short, portable post is all that is needed (middle). However, if the bird population is in an unfortunately good nutritional state, stronger means for drawing attention may have to be applied (left). Usually, it doesn't take long before hungry birds start tweeting and gathering in the vicinity, ready to be picked up and taken into the facility.
As a common finding, birds seem to start tweeting as soon as there is two or more of them around, but a single bird only tweets if she is connected to another by an electronic device. If the advertising male looks wealthy and well fed, the pursuit can't go wrong - with or without any electronic gadgets. There is no need to mention that appealing phenotype, suggesting perhaps thorough mating after feeding, is a big advantage in the eyes of a single bird. Except of verbal approach, also candies and recreational liquids can be used.
An alternative for an observation post is an appliance that represents money transactions or otherwise is related to financial stability and reliability. First of all, a crappy parking meter is hardly anything fancy. To stay on call at a street ATM is a borderline choice; there always is a chance you'll be taken as a pickpocket or you'll get robbed. However, an ATM on the wall of a major bank in a posh shopping street, providing a trustworthy impression, is a good choice. Dressing up in a streetwise manner is essential.
The basics for this technique were first developed in common parks by old females of the non-flying species. Their habit of feeding flying birds was noticed and studied in the nocturnal meetings of non-flying males. Scattering food around seemed to attract all kinds of social birds, and if this happened on a regular basis, a potentially deceitful trust and dependence could be developed. In later invented sophisticated techniques, like e.g. wooing birds already nestling in a feeding and drinking facility, sprinkling cakes with chocolate chips and floor with champagne come in handy.
Overall, flying birds seem to have a better instinct for self-defence than their non-flying mates. Moving in flocks is more common, and there always is one or more eyes open for possible attacks. In terms of energy use, flying together is economical, and the fliers are good at calculating fuel consumption. When moving in a crowd or alone, their walking sisters have no problems with air resistance, but in a company they tend to attract unfavourable attention as overflowing tweeting is in some circles considered noise pollution. Watching out for danger may be ignored. Though, especially at night, they should be aware; a single bird is an easy prey.
It is common knowledge that expected financial benefits and complicated mating system breed lots of intrigues within the non-flying population. These intrigues may arise between the individuals of opposite genders, but also against someone of the same gender. The whole setting becomes more complicated as the seduction game can be played in more than one direction, and all the parties of the game necessarily do not "appear on the stage". As mentioned above: presents, appropriately dressed mating tools and focused anticipations in this context are strong weapons.
Not far from the Honolulu down-town, there is a harbour area, Pearl Harbor. For ages, on various pretexts, birds have tried to persuade sailors to move ashore. And why not, a male with a steady job and pension is not a bad catch. Then there is one more thing: Sailors have always been praised for their mating willingness and occasionally great capability. As an evidence of this, some of their 30-40 times magnified tools are on display in the Pearl Harbor Exhibition Area. Because of my strict family friendly publishing policy, I'm not going to go any deeper into this issue, not in any position. An ultimate means for finding suitable sailors for the above named purposes is to use cutting edge technology. Following the evening leave schedules of ship crews and planning a feasible approach tactic may be essential in a successful sailor hunt. In the Pearl Harbor Exhibition area, there is an old submarine tower where a periscope is in continuous use by the local birds.
Utilisation of stool pigeons in politics and other honest business has been common for centuries. When the background work has been done right, suitable attracting things or beings can be used for placing political or business opponents (most often of the same species) in an awkward position. The joke is that, in the same way as the "beach birds" can't resist the temptation of good food, most of the individuals of any species have a weakness or two; the actual job is to find them. Often the soft spot is related to mating rituals - again, in one way or another, or third. As flying birds are sometimes hunted with traps and decoys for nutrition, also non-flying birds can be used as set-up material for constructing so-called honey-traps. As a reward for this work, these "employees" are provided with food and other goods. So, the game goes in all directions at the same time. However, the Hawaii Department of Public Safety doesn't consider this relationship symbiosis, and the funds used for the employment are not tax deductible.
Honey-trap birds, or "love birds", are hunting decoys for non-fliers and usually equipped with well disclosed details, details
for effortless perusing by the males of same species. "Love birds" are seldom monogamous, unlike their flying counterparts, Lovebirds (Agapornis fischeri), which strictly are. Anyway, common to these two are a bright red beak or lips, big eyes, innocent expression, charming posture of the figure and distinguishable outfit. In Hawaii, there is no natural Lovebird population, but they have been imported, live in houses with non-flying species and are supported by them. On the other hand, this is pretty much the same with "love birds"; many of them have been imported, they are dependent on other people and seldom pay the rent themselves. If the business goes bad, both of them may end up in a cage. Nevertheless, there is one more peculiar detail that is common to the both of them: they both can "fly", but only short distances. Anyway, as for the "love birds" it only is a figurative quality related to the night life in a big city. On the other hand, this will make "love birds" slightly different from ordinary "birds", and accordingly the true flying birds from Lovebirds and "love birds". Ornithological classification and terminology are complex issues.
As a conclusion, we can say that all kinds of birds, covered in this article, have symbiotic relationships with other environmental elements. This applies to, not only Honolulu birds, but some other parts of the world too. In the next part of this populist series of scientific publications, we'll look into the symbiont cultures in the Galapagos Islands.
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The picture of Lovebird was copied from Wikipedia, and published in accordance with the CreativeCommons terms http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Women with electronic gadgets and the Superman are from Google's picture collection, although the first ones are not fictional.
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