The white beaked `alae kea, or Hawaiian Coot, lived in wetlands such as Hämäkua. They eat fish, grasses, and underwater plants. They make floating nests on the water surface unlike most birds who nest up in trees. They move from place to place in search of food.

Hawaiians of long ago were very good storytellers. They often shared historical events through legends and sometimes created a story to explain nature. There is a legend that describes the red beak of the Alae Ula but none could be found for the white beak of the Alae Ke'a, so we've written a modern day tale.

On a very warm afternoon a young boy named Kale wondered why the past few days had been so hot. The air was so still that nothing moved, except in the nearby taro patch an 'Alae Ula with its bright red beak was very busy gathering twigs. He had never seen this bird come so close to the village. Could it be the red beaked bird has brought this heat to Hamakua? He approached the `alae `ula and asked "Alae Ula, How can you work in this heat?" The bird ignored him and continued his work,

The heat was now making Kale very tired and so he returned to his house and slept. He lay in his bed and thought the next day he took a frigid stick of hau (a word which refers both to a thick growing Polynesian plant in the hibiscus family as well as to ice) and he touched it to the 'alae 'ula's forehead. That is how the red beaked 'alae 'ula was transformed into the white beaked 'alae kea.