UH West Oʻahu will host an event focusing on the pueo, the Hawaiian short-eared owl, that serves as the campus mascot and is a cultural treasure and ʻaumakua (family guardian) for many Native Hawaiians.
ʻAha Pueo is scheduled for 5:00 to 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 6, in Campus Center room C225, and is designed as an informational session about the pueo for the campus and general community. The meeting planners hope to begin the evening with a potluck dinner at 5 p.m., followed by the opening of the event.
Besides serving as UH West Oahuʻs mascot, pueo are listed by the state as being endangered on Oʻahu. Pueo were once widespread throughout all islands, but it is believed the owls have suffered from loss of habitat, predators and disease. The campus is monitoring for pueo in and around campus with the intent of making reports to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DLNR-DOFAW). The Pueo Project also has reported sightings elsewhere on Oʻahu, including those in East, Windward, Central, and West Oʻahu as well as the North Shore.
Some in the community have opposed development of UH West Oʻahu’s vacant land because of the loss of land for the Pueo, and have advocated that the state Legislature pass a measure establishing a habitat conservation preserve on UH West Oʻahu lands. However, researchers say not enough is known about the Hawaiian Owlʻs nest-site selection and survival to help guide management actions.
A bill (SB2078) making its way through the state Legislature would provide funding researchers to undertake study of pueo breeding and foraging on Oʻahu, which should yield information on preferred habitat characteristics for nesting and foraging. It would appropriate money to DLNR-DOFAW to conduct in collaboration with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Tropical Agriculture a two-year study.
The ʻAha Pueo event will begin at 5:30 with Oli Honouliuli, followed Aunty Lynette Paglinawan, UHWO Community Engagement Specialist, discussing the role Cultural Landscaping has in addressing how we can best care for our pueo. Her students in a 1-credit Hoʻoponopono class will be presenting their research on the pueo – moʻolelo. According to a legislative committee report, pueo are known as the bird of wisdom, offering guidance and protection and was revered by ancient Hawaiians as an ʻaumakua, or ancestral guardian.
The program will also include Kehaulani Kupihea and her husband, an artist known as Kupihea, talking about their experience with the pueo as their ʻaumakua, as art inspiration and in cultural practice. Molly Hagemann, the Vertebrate Zoology Collections manager for the Bishop Museum also will take part in a discussion of pueo and there will be physical examples of the owl from the museum.
Dr. Javier Cotin, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa who has worked on the Pueo Project, will also discuss knowledge of Pueo nesting, habits and environment. The Pueo Project also has developed a website with information about the raptor, including tips on distinguishing the pueo from barn owls, and forms for reporting pueo sightings. It also includes a blog and news about pueo, including a sighting at the Kahala Mall parking lot in January 2018.