Restoration of locality and elevation data to bird-specimens from Kauaʻi, collected by Munro and Palmer, by reconstructing their Makaweli Camp collecting locality

Using George C. Munro’s transcribed field diary (30 December 1890–16 February 1891), Munro’s article on Notes on some Kauai birds from 1947, Rothschild’s Birds of Laysan, and late 19th/early 20th-century cartography, we reconstructed the location of the temporary camp site in the Makaweli uplands west of Waimea, Kauaʻi used by Munro and Henry C. Palmer. Independent constraints from the diary converge on Gay & Robinson pasture lands in the vicinity of the modern Kepani Reservoir (inferred elevation 1,100–1,300 ft [335–396 m]). Munro’s diary lists the camp elevation as 1,800 ft [549 m], implying a systematic overestimate of 500–700 ft [152–213 m]. The nearby Nonapahu Ridge was frequently visited, but the summit Kaupū‘a‘a at 2,863 ft [873 m] was never reached. These findings restore the elevational provenance of 200+ bird specimens collected during their stay. It requires correction of associated data and makes explicit the constraints for analyses of species that are elevation-sensitive.