Mt. Haleakala (say Haw-lay-ah-kah-lah) is the world’s tallest dormant volcano at around 10,400 ft. It’s dormant, not extinct, which means it can still erupt. Extinct means it is ka-puht. Haleakala is not ka-puht.

There’s a Hawaiian goose who lives up there who is endangered, and once went ka-puht. Most people don’t know that. That the Nene on Maui went extinct about 60 years ago. Back then, only around 30 existed on the whole planet (and only in Hawaii.) They were critically endangered, which means they almost went ka-puht everywhere. So, people worked together to save and protect the Nene.

Now, there are more of them than in the 1950s, but not nearly as many as before Captain Cook landed in Hawaii. They are still endangered and it’s really rare to see one. We drove up Haleakala with my Uncle Jon and tried to see a Nene. It’s really, really cold and really, really windy up there. Good thing the Nene has warm feathers! The Nene also has long toes to grab onto the rocky lava rock. They eat ‘ohelo berries, grass and weedy plants. They drink the mountain dew from the fog, so they were “doing the dew” long before a certain soda company thought of it. Nene are absolutely awesome!