Spirit of Aloha | Features | May/June 2007

Profiles
By Margaret A. Haapoja
Photographs by Jim Denny

BIRD IN THE LENS

The air is still, the sky clear, blue and so cloudless we can see the top of Mount Wai‘ale‘ale one early morning in March when Jim Denny and I arrive at the Alaka‘i Swamp Trail. Attaching his Nikon D2h camera and Nikon 200-400mm f/4.5 lens to a tripod, he hoists the 20-some pounds of equipment onto his shoulder and we set out.
Still fit and spry at 60, Denny has been photographing Kaua‘i’s birds for 20 years. Growing up on a subsistence farm in Louisiana, he and his brother roamed the bayous, rivers and lakes of ivory-billed woodpecker country. Den­ny got his first degree in English literature, was licensed as a Baptist minister and moved to Maui with his wife. Be­fore long, he realized ministry wasn’t his calling. Instead, he got another degree, this time in medical technology, from the University of Hawai‘i. Now semiretired, Denny con­tinues to work part-time at the Kaua‘i Veteran’s Memorial Hospital in Wai­mea near his home at Kekaha.
“My childhood love of the outdoors has never left me,” Denny says, as he explains his fascination with bird photography. “In fact, I get anxious in crowd­ed rooms if I can’t be near a window. Hunting was a big part of my rural Louisi­ana culture, and it’s not really a big jump to switch from gun to camera. Nature photography has a lot of similarities to hunting and requires some of the same skills: patience and knowledge of bird behavior.” Denny is self-taught and says his proficiency comes from years of trial and error, reading and asking questions. “I’m still learning,” he admits, adding that Big Island biologist and photographer Jack Jeffrey has been a tremendous inspiration. “When I first saw one of Jack’s photos, my initial gut reaction was one of despair,” says Den­ny. “It was so beautiful I thought I should give up because there was no way I was ever going to take a photograph like that.” Now the two share tips and photography trips twice a year. As we step onto the boardwalk, Den­ny points out native plants like la­palapa (Cheirodendron platyphyllum) with its shiny, trembling leaves and the tubular, greenish flowers of hähä‘aiakamanu (Cler­montia fauriei). Eight of Hawai‘i’s 23 native forest birds live on Kaua‘i, and Den­ny says learning each spe­cies’ be­havior is key to finding them. “It’s easier to photograph the nectar feeders—the ‘anianiau, the ‘i‘iwi, the Kaua‘i ama­kihi and the ‘apapane—be­cause there’s a particular be­havior about them,” he ex­plains. “If they find a flower with a nectar they like, they’ll visit that flower over and over again during the day, and, generally, they’ll approach it from the same direction. That’s great, because you can anticipate what’s going to happen and have more time to get your shot. The ‘apapane is shy, and if it sees you nearby, it won’t come back again. The other three, particularly the ‘anianiau, can be quite friendly.” The Kaua‘i amakihi is actually an omnivore feeding on both nectar and insects. Birds that feed on insects are the most difficult, according to Denny, because it’s hard to predict their behavior, to know where they’re going to be. After years of experience, Denny has learned which flowers attract which birds. “Plants bloom at different times of the year, and certain birds like certain flowers,” he says. “This time of year—March—is great for photographing the ‘amakihi and the ‘i‘iwi. They love to feed on hähä‘aiakamanu, which blooms only this time of year. The plants are low to the ground, which makes them easier to photograph. They are not backlit, and you can choose your background. That makes a lot of difference in a good photograph.
“The kanawao (Broussaisia arguta) blooms in September and October. It has a kind of platform blossom, like an inverted bowl, and a small flower that the ‘apapane likes. If you can find them on that flower, well, that’s the best time and opportunity to photograph them. Otherwise the ‘apapane are up in the canopy feeding on ‘öhi‘a lehua (Metro­sideros polymorpha) and it’s hard to get them. So those two times of the year—March and October—are the best for shooting forest birds.”
Because bird photography is so time-consuming and so weather dependent, Denny says it is important to know wea­ther patterns, because you can’t photograph birds in the pouring rain. “If you’re coming from off-island and putting all your eggs in that three-day basket, it’s ex­pensive,” he says. “So you almost have to live in the place that you photograph be­cause of the time involved.”
We turn left onto the Pihea Trail—Den­ny’s favorite spot to find Kaua‘i’s en­demic forest birds—and he stops ahead of me. Overhead, I hear a shrill sound like the squeaking of a rusty gate. Denny tells me it is the distinctive song of an ‘i‘iwi. Immediately, he sets up his tripod and begins to scan the canopy. A sudden flash of color catches my eye, and I point to it. Unfortunately, the bird flits out of sight. Learning to recognize individual calls helps to locate birds, but Denny never uses taped calls be­cause he doesn’t want to interfere with nesting behavior. “If there are birds com­peting for territory to build nests, and they hear my calls, they may abandon the area,” says Denny. “No photograph is worth that.”
As the noonday sun heats the atmosphere, we decide to head back to the truck. No doubt, having a novice like me along limited Denny’s chances for good photos. Normally, he would spend the whole day and wait for the perfect opportunity. Denny feels blessed to live on Kaua‘i, and he believes Hawai‘i has a remarkable array of native forest birds unlike anywhere else. Poring over his collection of photos, good or bad, gives him pleasure because, for each picture, he can recall the place, the weather, the time of day and his excitement.
“Birds, like no other animal, lift the human spirit,” says Denny. “The way they glide so gracefully in the air, the freedom they have to move about quick­ly from place to place. When you add to that their beautiful songs and a seemingly endless variety of colors and shapes, I have to wonder why more people don’t do what I do.”

MARGARET A. HAAPOJA writes often on conservation issues. Her stories have ap­peared in Audubon, Wild Bird, Ameri­­can Forests, California Wild and Wild­life Journal.

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