Down to La Perouse Bay very early this morning and we came upon this guy fishing and crabbing. I was told by the Ranger that it is a Black Crowned Heron. He is still a juvenile yet and hasn't devoloped the two long black feathers he will get on his head...
Another shot of him - maybe you can see the downy feathers he sports on the end of his beak. He puts his beak into the water and lets the current move the down very gently to lure the fish in - then whammo!
How totally cool Jenny...thanks! I miss watching the shore birdlife...gotta get off this mountain!
This is a Little Blue Heron. Comes by pool and lily pond every day.
love the pic of the little blue heron! lee
Here's her baby.
hi debstx, that's just too cute. it's feathers looks like my hair this a.m.! we have herons here but i'm not located near a body of water. besides hummingbirds, pileated woodpeckers, and redbreasted grosbeaks, herons are amongst my favorites. i suppose saying that is like trying to say which child is your favorite even though i have no children. great pics. have had a smile. lee
You're so sweet Lee. Only seen one Pileated woodpecker at home in NY. Wow. Blew me away..... Deb
i could die happy if i could see an ivory-billed woodpecker. lee
Such beautiful birds - thanks for posting, DebSTX!
hi debstx, the first pileated woodpecker i saw, i couldn't believe it. while perched, it looked like woody woodpecker! in late winter, they forage amongst the lichen for insects. the old people, here, call them indian hens. lee
Hi Lee! I've seen redheaded woodpeckers at home. They really do look like Woody! The pileated though, was so huge he sounded like he was drilling the trees with an AK47! He really got my attention.
Thank you, Braveheart!
yes, their drumming is loud and distinctive. you'll certainly know it from a downy or hairy. i live in a rural area with lots of woods and i often herar them far off. i wonder if thy get migraines? lol lee
Saw this little Green Heron the other day by the lily pond.
Thanks for the avian shots!
Here is a photo of a rare visit to Hawai'i by a Black Brant. The location is the Wai'Opae Marine Life Conservation District in Kapoho, on Hawai'i Island.
Aloha, Dave
Great photo...beautiful bird. Do they pass over in migration or would it have been blown off course? Is it likely to stay?
Hey, MetroDave, he looks alot like a loon from up north. Could he be a relative? Does he make a beautiful, haunting sound like a loon?
He is definitely a Black Brant, and blown off course. They are close relatives of Canadian Geese, and the Hawaiian Nene Goose.
When they get their wits back they reconnoiter and go back where they came from.
Wow. We have a gazillion Canadian Geese back home. Wouldn't it be cool, though, if it was a loon? I can't even imagine that haunting sound echoing in the Hawaiian Islands...
No Loons are recorded from Hawai'i. We do have Petrels (Pterodroma sandwichensis) which let out an erie moan that sounds like "oo-ah-oo"; typically the Hawaiians named this bird the 'ua'u.
In this area of the Island we have an introduced bird called the Melodious Dancing Thrush (Garrulax canorus). They live in the underbrush and don't fly much, but rather "dance" around. They put on a wonderful morning concert everyday!
Ah, Dave...I thought it was the Melodious Laughing Thrush...Dancing makes more sense!!! We keep a hand of bananas on the wall in the front of the house... our 'bird feeder'. The Thrush comes down and warns the Cardinals he is about to eat and to stay away and it is a very beautiful threat!!!!
How and why was the dancing thrush introduced to Hawaii?
The Melodius Dancing Thrush or Chinese Thrush was brought to Hawai'i from China as a caged bird. It escaped into the wild in1900. It's oriental name is Hwamei.
They get together in pairs and commonly sing duets. They feed on insects and fruit, build nests in shrubs, and lay three to four glossy blue eggs.
Great shots! Thanks for sharing!
I agree!!
Great info on the "dancer", I haven't seen any here - perhaps they are more on the forested sides of the islands?
We have the 'ua'u here and they nest in one particular area by the beach. Unfortunately the nestlings are in danger from all the feral cats and also from people who walk their dogs off the leash.
Kind of funny story - when we first moved here we had the usual flocks of mynah birds come every morning to finish off the dogs breakfast. For a while I was seeing mynahs with day glo pink coloration everywhere there should have been white feathers! No-one I asked had seen the birds and I couldn't find any info on them at the library. We went to a nature thing put on at the botanical gardens where they had a booth on the endangered birds in Hawaii, and I asked the guys running the booth - no, they had never seen these birds either. Then they disapeared. Months later I was at a beach party and one of the guys from the booth came up to me and said that he had found out about the birds - they had been having trouble with the mynahs at the Maui Prince hotel and had been trying some kind of control. In order to see if their controls were working they had spray painted some of the birds with pink paint, which wore off after a while! I seemed to be the only person who had seen them, and people were even asking me if I had been drinking! LOL!
Hi Jen,
The thrush lives in the brush of windward areas. I never saw the bird before I moved here on the side of Kilauea.
I noticed that these song filled birds lived in bushes, so I left some of that habitat on my land just for the birds!
Those are beautiful pictures and great info! Thanks for posting!
Alexandra
Jen, how fun-ny!!!!!!!!!!! That's a riot! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What an interesting and educational thread!
DebSTX~I saw my first Pileated Woodpecker while golfing east of Calgary, AB Canada earlier this year. An amazing bird, really does remind me of Woody Woodpecker.
Thought I would add my heron from MS, as well.
Jenn...loved your story! Can you imagine trying to spray-paint a moving mynah??? Not an easy chore I'm thinkin.
Back in Colorado we had this one STUPID woodpecker. He would spend hours everyday banging away on the copper chimney "guard" thingy. We would all laugh at the idiot...telling him over and over that he was working on the wrong thing...it wasn't wood...yadda yadda yadda. He was very loud, and after a few weeks we really started hating this guy with his copper hammering. I called a friend of mine at the zoo, who put me in touch with the bird folks, and did I feel my face turning every possible shade of red when he told me that the bird was obviously signalling for or to a mate. They use metal to communicate over distances that wood will not cover, and since I lived across the street from a large park, the bird guy said that my guys mate was probably on the other side of the park. Never make fun of the natural world - it will only make you look silly in the end.
Great photos everyone!
Yokwe,
Shari
Gardnerkett, love the heron pic, too. Keep posting pics, from out neck of the woods even though we are about 300 miles apart. Have you any of egrets. Occasionally, I see them in the pastures with cattle. lee
BTW, wouldn't it be heaven to see an Ivory-billed woodpecker. I'd still like to think they are still around.
Did someone mention Egrets?
This is what Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) do on a rainy day.
I went looking for plants but it was bad weather for that; I found this instead. The Egrets feel safe in a tree surrounded by water. Unfortunately, not many trees are like that!
Most days, these birds are gone looking for food till evening. Today I found them in their tree with enough light for a picture.
This is in wetlands at Lele'iwi, by Hilo.
Aloha, Dave
Wow Dave, great photo's and wonderful information. I so enjoy the Hawaiian Island and its wonderful of you to share your photo's and knowledge.
The Egrets I have spotted in MS are very small and very elusive, so not many great photo ops.
When last in Maui I loved the colorful chickens, this was on the road to Hana.
I was so impressed with how beautiful he was, I tried to paint him, he was my first project in my painting class.
Gardnerkett, The pic of the cock is beautiful. Please forgive my ignorance but are they native to the Islands? Too, your painting truly captured him nicely. Lee
Thanks, Lee!
Maybe Dave can tell us. I have never seen such colorful chickens!
How very talented you are, Gardnerkett - your picture is wonderful!
Those chickens are all over the place here, even by the side of some of our busiest roads. They just fend for themselves and have tons of chicks...In North kihei there is very often a few peacocks walking down the street, I don't know who they belong to but they roam at will!
I don't know what type of chickens they are but I call them jungle chickens because they remind me so much of the ones in the jungles of Asia.
shari~your story is so funny, I had a similar situation staying at my parents. Where a woodpecker decided to drill into the aluminum soffets. I mentioned to my mom how stupid he must be, when she informed me that he was actually making as much noise as possible to attract a mate. Not much consolation, when you are trying to sleep in!
