Category Archives: Birds

Io flying

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.

Northern cardinal family

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.

Japanese white-eye chick in a spot of bother

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 stilt feeding

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.

Pueo stare

This week’s Friendly Friday challenge theme is ‘Capturing a Feeling.’ See more responses here.

A fair number of my photos of perched pueos (Hawaiian short-eared owls) show the birds giving me a scowling look of disapproval. This one has a bit of that, but there’s also a look of astonishment. If I had to give this bird a speech bubble, it would be something along the lines of, ‘He took my picture. He didn’t even ask. The nerve.’

I like this photo for two additional reasons. One is that single, visible curved talon resting on the post. Easy to imagine the effect of that on some unfortunate rodent. The second reason is the eyes. Notice anything about them?

Also posted in response to Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.

Ocean, sky, clouds, and noddys

Yesterday, I was processing photos I’d taken over the past few days. When I saw this one, I thought, ‘I could have used that on Sunday,’ when responding to the Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Sky’ (more responses here), and Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective’ (more responses here).

Usually, when I’m in the water, my focus is on spotting fish. But I also look around with my head above water and, one morning, I saw this flock of Hawaiian noddys wheeling back and forth over the ocean. Just after I took this photo, they flew directly overhead before gliding away to the south.