These islands are going to the birds

Being an endangered species is not an enviable position but, ironically, it does bestow a certain elite status.

The nene goose, Hawaii’s state bird, driven to near extinction, is now protected wherever it’s found.

The accidental killing of a nesting goose near Haleakala park became a headline, as did the happier news last March that nene geese were found nesting on Oahu for the first time in centuries.

So when another nene was found nesting at Maui’s Ukumehame Firing Range, it’s not surprising that the gunfire was silenced while the goose cares for her young. What is surprising is that the mama would have settled in at such a noisy place.

It wouldn’t be the first time. Four years ago on Kauai, Friday night football was moved to Saturday afternoon so as not to disturb the Newell’s shearwater, another endangered bird.

There’s power in (few) numbers.

Let the sun shine on rooftop solar

News that rooftop solar permits fell 50 percent on Oahu in 2014 — largely due to Hawaiian Electric Co.’s policies — takes on a slightly different cast now that we know HECO is looking to be bought by a Florida-based energy giant that has made plain its preference for utility-scale solar farms, as opposed to the individual distributed-energy systems popular in Hawaii.

We hope that HECO will do all it can to clear the queue of several thousand customers waiting for permits, even as the proposed sale to NextEra Energy moves ahead.