kauai – Kim Steutermann Rogers

Help Protect Hawaii’s Seabirds

November 15, 2017November 15, 2017Kim

Hawaiian petrel 'ua'u — ’Ua’u (Hawaiian petrel)

[Re-printed in entirety from a State of Hawaii DLNR press release that just landed in my in-box. Please help protect Hawaii’s seabirds.]

For immediate release
November 15, 2017

TURN OFF UNNEEDED NIGHT LIGHTS AND LOOK OUT FOR DOWNED SEABIRDS

HONOLULU — It’s Fall in Hawai‘i, and once again time to watch out for the “fallout” of young seabirds on our islands. At this time of year, native Hawaiian seabirds become disoriented by artificial lights during their maiden flights from their burrows out to sea. Read more →

Vote for Hawaiian Monk Seals!

August 15, 2016August 17, 2016Kim

Some years ago, a young monk seal female birthed a pup on a remote Kaua`i beach. Unfortunately, she showed no interest in her pup and abandoned it. This was before Ke Kai Ola, the monk seal hospital, was built, and the emaciated pup didn’t survive. Read more →

How Extreme Birds Inspire Us to be Better Humans

June 16, 2016August 17, 2016Kim

Memorial Day. Graduation. Father’s Day. The solstice. For most people, one of these marks the beginning of summer. For me, these calendar events signal the coming completion of albatross season. Albatross? You mean those big white birds with wingspans longer than I am tall who glide over the surface of the sea as gentle as a leaf loosed from its tree in fall and floating on currents of air? Yes, those. They can soar for hundreds of miles, skimming the ocean’s waves and wheeling up into the sky, with barely a beat of their wings. Read more →

Tracking Twain: Finally, I Met Mark Twain

May 17, 2016August 17, 2016Kim

Celebrity. What makes it? I’ve thought this often since a friend’s boyfriend left college a credit or class or paper—there are many stories out there—short of graduating and went to Hollywood to become Brad Pitt. Actually, he was already Brad Pitt, but in Hollywood, he became the famous—and wealthy—actor Brad Pitt.

Our society likes celebrities so much that some of us even like to dress up as them.

We have no shortage of celebrities on Kaua‘i, some live, some visit. I met my latest on a dark night in a back room. Read more →

Are Hawaiian Monk Seals (Finally) Gaining Respect?

April 30, 2016August 17, 2016Kim

She’s not the prettiest seal. It’s neither the doe eyes nor the Buddha smile that draw you to her. It’s the scars.

I’ve always said 17-year-old K30 is the poster child of threats to monk seals. After the events of this week, now more so than ever. Read more →