Another post from things seen walking around home or work. In this case a pair of Java Sparrows at work and nesting in the roof above the office. I rarely saw Java Sparrows before this year, but now we have half a dozen or more nesting in the roof. Not that I’m complaining. They’re fun birds to watch.
Posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (See more responses here).
A few days ago, I posted here an image from a recent walk along the coast to Hapuna beach. I thought I’d post more photos from that walk for this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Paths and Trails’ (more responses here), and for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (more responses here).
The trail crosses beaches large and small.
Of course, besides the views I was on the alert for anything moving on the beach or in the air.
Other parts pass through trees and other vegetation.
Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge asks us to post the last photo we took in October (See more response here). Mine came from a couple of evenings ago.
I was taking photos of the sunset and when the sun dipped out of view I noticed a strange something on the horizon. I zoomed in and took a couple of photos, this being the second of those.
It took me a while to figure out what was going on here, but then it all became clear. I realized, some 20 miles out to sea, an enormous duck was paddling by. I mean, what else could it be?
A Black-crowned Night Heron is silhouetted as it hunts around sunset.
Pu’u Wa’a Wa’a is a cinder cone on the slopes of Hualalai volcano. The name means “many-furrowed hill,” and it’s a place I like to walk at least once a year, but it had been a while since I was up there. Usually, I go there in the spring when Jacarandas and other flowers are blooming. I also try to go in the early morning, since the area tends to cloud up during the day and the wonderful views become obscured.
A couple of weeks ago I made a late decision to do the hike again since the weather looked unusually good. I got there around 2pm and it will come as no surprise that I spent the first 15 minutes of the hike taking photos of Williwilli flowers on a tree about 20 feet from where I parked! (More of those in a few days.)
The trail follows an old road up the hill past Silk Oak trees, at the tail end of their flowering and sporting a deep red hue I hadn’t seen before. Turn around, and there are good views of Maui to be had. The old road peters out near an old blockhouse, now lacking doors and windows, which offers shelter to livestock on the ranch here. Off to one side is an old quarry, which cuts into the side of the hill. Usually there are goats in this area, but I didn’t see any on this day. Farther up is what’s left of Tamaki Corral, which dates back around 100 years.
Not far after the corral, the trail climbs steeply toward the top. This was where I found a change in the trail. Whereas before the trail was an out-and-back up a steep slope to the top, now a loop has been created. I took this new option to the top where, on this remarkably clear late afternoon, I had great views of Maui, Kohala Mountain, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. A new sign at the top welcomes hikers to the nearly 4,000 foot summit, and there’s a survey marker at the top riddled with holes, not from gunfire, but to let the wind blow through. There are also a couple of benches where one can sit a while enjoying the views (weather permitting). The hike is steep in places, but not difficult, though not everyone makes it back alive!
I followed the old trail back down and ran into several sheep, which have the run of the land up here, as the sun dipped behind the ridge.
One other difference I noticed with this afternoon hike was the proliferation of birds. There were large numbers of finches, mostly Saffron Finches flitting about, preparing to roost for the evening. Yellow-fronted Canaries were all over the tree tobacco flowers. I also saw, and heard, several Erckel’s Francolins doing their usual fine job of blending in with the vegetation.
And as I walked back down the hill towards my car, the late afternoon sun still shone, illuminating grasses alongside the trail.
Posted for Jo’s Monday Walk. See more walks here.
This Zebra Dove recently cannoned into a window at work. Outside, we found it lying on the ground, out cold. At first, we thought it was dead, but then detected signs of life. So, having seven cats living around the place, we took it inside in the hope that it would recover.
It did soon start to look better and the first thing it did was take wing and cannon into a window from the inside. So we took it outside again and installed it on this branch. It gripped the branch and looked fairly secure, though its blank expression suggested it didn’t have much idea of how it had come to be there.
Gradually the dove recovered, looked around a bit, and gave me a disapproving stare. After a while, it flapped over to a different branch and took on the wide-eyed look that is more typical of these doves. In these circumstances though, that look could be interpreted in a raft of different ways.
Eventually, the dove flew off and I was glad to see that it safely negotiated the branches and trees surrounding it without banging into anything else.
I first saw this chicken on the way to work a couple of weeks ago. It was pecking around at the foot of the hill below where I work. Since this is in one of the Kohala coast resorts, I thought the chicken might be removed with some speed. This hasn’t happened.
Last week, leaving work, I saw it again and stopped to take photos. The chicken immediately headed my way, then stopped, moved away, turned, and came back. I wondered what it was up to.
It wasn’t until I got home and processed the photos that I realized that there was a perfectly reasonably explanation. It was just doing the funky chicken!
There are three kinds of francolins that can be found in Hawaii. In the 10 years I’ve lived here I’ve seen and photographed lots of Gray Francolins, the most common and loudest of the bunch. I’ve also got several photos of Erckel’s Francolins, which are noticeably larger than the other two. But though I’ve seen a fair number of Black Francolins, which have distinctive markings, I’ve never got a photo of one before.
It’s not that they’re rare – I see them fairly regularly – but I only ever seem to see them while I’m driving. By the time I stop the car, grab the camera, and get out, the francolin is long gone.
But last week, while I was at work, I looked out of the window and saw this bird ambling across what passes for a lawn here. I snagged my camera, ran outside and started taking photos. In the top one, the bird is about to leave the open area and head into scrubby grassland. It gave me the eye at a couple of points, and then headed away and out of sight. And, yes, the brown stalks are grass. This area gets very little rainfall, and it’s been exceptionally dry here as well.
Graham's Island 