Hess et al. • MOVEMENTS OF THE HAWAIIAN GOOSE 
481 
TABLE 1. Exchange of 323 individually-marked Nene between breeding and non-breeding locations on Hawaii Island 
from 2007 to 2011 based on visual observations of leg bands. Entries to the right ot the diagonal indicate the number of 
individuals observed at two sites expressed as a percent of the grand total. Total observed indicates the total number of 
banded Nene observed at each site. Nene originated from breeding sites al Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge 
(HFNWR) or Big Island Country Club golf course (BICC). 
Breeding 
Nun-breeding 
BICC HFNWR 
Kahuku 
Kipuka 'Ainahou 
Kulani 
Breeding 
BICC 
_ 
9.6 
9.4 
10.0 
5.6 
HFNWR 
31 
— 
19.8 
19.2 
0.9 
Non-breeding 
Kahuku 
30 
64 
— 
1.6 
5.9 
KTpuka ‘Ainahou 
32 
62 
5 
— 
0.9 
Kulani 
18 
3 
19 
3 
— 
Total observed 
141 
183 
101 
100 
28 
(49.5%) were observed at >1 site. While 101 
Nene from BICC and Hakalau Forest NWR were 
observed at Kahuku during the non-breeding 
season, only one remained at BICC and Ihree 
remained at Hakalau Forest NWR during the non¬ 
breeding season. More than 19% of all marked 
geese were observed at Hakalau Forest NWR 
during the breeding season and al Kahuku or 
KTpuka 'Ainahou during the non-breeding season; 
^10% were observed at BICC and Kahuku or 
KTpuka ‘Ainahou. 
Satellite Telemetry .—Transmitters functioned 
for a sufficient length of time to capture data 
across multiple seasons for nine of the 10 geese, 
producing 9.607 GPS locations (Table 2), Bat¬ 
tery-powered transmitters functioned 65-102 days, 
but solar-powered transmitters functioned 129 
to >614 days. Nene repeatedly traveled from 
Kahuku to BICC. the two most distant sites, 
between sunrise and 1000 hrs. a minimum dis¬ 
tance of 67 km over the summit of Mauna Loa 
(4,039 m). hut —90 km on the more likely route of 
travel (Fig. I). Eight of 10 males from both 
breeding sites dispersed over a broad area on the 
remote southeast slope of Mauna Loa. most of 
which was inaccessible to us by road. 
The southernmost terminus of movements was a 
small area at Kahuku known as KTpuka Nene. 
noted as an important location by Smith (1952: I): 
"In the Kau Territorial Forest Reserve on Mauna 
Loa. there is an area at an elevation of 6.500 feet 
[—1.980 m| doited with small, shallow, permanent 
pools and covered w ith an open ohia (Metrosideros 
eollina) forest with a ground cover of lush grass 
and sedges. On maps of Hawaii, this area is labeled 
Kipuka Nene, a name given it by the ancient 
Hawaiians testifying to its habitation by Nene for 
centuries. (Kipuka means an isolated patch of 
vegetation surrounded by recent lava flows.) In 
former years, the forest rangers frequently saw 
geese in this location during patrols in the winter 
months. In 1948. a ranger saw a flock of 17 Nene, 
and in January 1949. three were observed. Since 
then, no Nene has been seen, yet the ranger has 
continued to make his monthly patrols in the same 
routine manner." A major lava flow in 1950 
altered the surrounding landscape, but left KTpuka 
Nene intact aside from the loss of permanent pools 
and gradual changes in plant communities. 
The greatest mean difference in elevation for 
BICC Nene was 974.4 m (95% Cl ± 22.0), 
whereas Hakalau Forest NWR geese differed 
226.4 m (95% Cl ± 40.7) between molting and 
non-breeding seasons. Two Nene that originated 
at BICC ranged ^2.281 m in elevation, from 199 
to 2.568 nt, and 481 to 2.762 m. Log-linear 
modeling of the five geese that provided data from 
all three seasons resulted in significant relation¬ 
ships between ordinal date and elevation for 
each (F 2 .tm ~ 177.76; P < 0.001; Table 3). We 
interpreted the exponent of the intercept (exp|/? 0 J) 
to represent the estimated base elevation of each 
individual with 95% Cl. The magnitude of 
seasonal elevation change for these live geese 
differed according to origin, largely because the 
Hakalau Forest NWR breeding location was near 
the upper elevation limit (Fig. 2). 
DISCUSSION 
The movement pattern we documented with 
satellite telemetry was similar to that reported by 
early naturalists in Hawaii prior to the effects of 
profound changes in habitats and introduced 
mammalian predators (Baldwin 1945). Henshaw 
(1902: 105) wrote: "It has been stated and seems 
to be the general impression that the nene rears its 
