When I took this photo, I was thinking of the James Thurber short story, “The Owl Who Was God,” which can be read here. The main differences between that story and this photo are that pueos have very good eyesight during daylight hours, which is when they’re active, and no animals were harmed in the taking of this photo. The bird flew away shortly after I took it. He does have that look though.
I saw these three great frigatebirds, stacked up like planes waiting for clearance to land. Not that I’ve ever seen one land. Great frigatebirds are one of those that spend a lot of time in the air, until they return to their roosts. Hawaii represents the northern edge of their range in the Pacific.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Kind.’ See more responses here.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Backyard Birding.’ See more responses here. Also posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Kind.’ See more responses here.
Almost all the birds I see in the backyard are fairly common, but no less interesting for that.
There are two kinds of endemic birds of prey in Hawaii. One is the pueo, the Hawaiian short-eared owl. I see these birds on a regular basis, particularly while driving on Old Saddle Road. Search for ‘pueo’ on this blog and you’ll find a raft of photos.
The other endemic bird of prey is the Io or Hawaiian hawk. Search for ‘io’ on this blog and you’ll find a post with the letters ‘i’ and ‘o’ in the title. That’s because I rarely see these birds. I sometimes see them circling high above, scouting for prey, but not where a photo could be taken. And once, an io landed in the yard when it snagged a small rodent. My wife saw this; I was in the bathroom. By the time I emerged, the bird was gone.
So this photo, while not exactly stellar, is a first for me. Again this was a bird circling above the neighborhood. I tried to get photos, but as they tend to do, this one drifted away out of sight. I went round to the other side of the house, hoping to spot it again, and was surprised to see it again, not only gliding back in my general direction, but losing altitude as it did so.
I snapped a few photos before it dipped below the tree line and disappeared for good, and I was happy to get this shot with the sun illuminating the wing and the distinctive beak also prominent.
Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Kind.’ See more responses here.
This northern cardinal family set up home in the yard for a while. Above is the proud father. Next is the attentive mother. Finally there’s junior, looking, as offspring often do, like he might belong to a different species.
It’s not a partridge in a pear tree, but I like the lines and patterns that palm fronds make and this little sparrow gives them a bit of scale.
The top photo shows a Japanese white-eye chick clinging to a window screen. This was the first view I had of this bird, but from inside. When I went out to look there was quite a kerfuffle going on. The white-eyes were squawking in the bushes and flitting around.
After a while, the chick hopped off the screen onto the grass where the two parents, I presume, flew down to join it (middle photo). The squawking continued. Eventually the chick took to the air again and wobbled over to a nearby hedge where it clunked into the branches and gained a perch. The other white-eyes continued to flit around, making quite a din.
The chick moved a couple more times, tentatively, but must have landed somewhere safe because the hubbub subsided and calm returned to the yard. It must have been old enough to fly, but not yet adept at it so that it could control where the flight might take it.
In the bottom photo, taken while it was resting in the grass, the chick looks quite similar to the adults, but the signature white eye ring is not yet present.
Hawaiian stilts are endemic, but also endangered because of loss of habitat and a rise in predators. They’re easy to identify with their strong black and white coloration, long black beak, and even longer pink legs. This one was wading in deeper water than I usually see them, probing for arthropods and insects.
