illustrated by Fred Salmon

University of Hawaii Press, 1998

Ka Po’okela Palapala

Award for excellence in Children’s Literature

1999

Hawaii Book Publishers Association

The Pacific Golden Plover, known as Kōlea in Hawaii, flies almost 3000 miles across open ocean to reach its nesting ground in Alaska.  Its seasonal change in coloration is so dramatic it looks like a different bird. How these birds find their way from the Arctic to Hawaii’s remote island chain is one of nature’s mysteries.

A young Kōlea in winter plumage.

A male Kōlea in summer plumage.