A while back, I exposed roosters (here) as the frauds they are when it comes to greeting the dawn. Yes, they crow at dawn, but only because they crow, randomly, 24/7.
But the dawn chorus is not a myth. It’s the time when birds that have managed to get a decent night’s sleep, despite the roosters, wake up and let other birds know that they made it through the night and this is still their territory. Around here, there’s both a great variety and large number of birds singing in the chorus, but the chorus leader is this bird.
At this time of year, this northern cardinal cranks it up around five in the morning. He’s almost always in this spot, high in a tree, about 60 feet from the house and, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he has an amplifier and speakers up there, too. The northern cardinal has a loud and piercing voice, as well as a wide variety of songs to use it on. They include, ‘pichooey, pichooey, pichooey,’ ‘puertorico, puertorico, puertorico,’ and the ever popular ‘party, party, party, party.’
Sometimes, these calls get a response from another cardinal in the hedge about 10 feet from the bedroom window, which is startling to say the least, especially at that time in the morning when I’m not exactly at my best.
While I confess to having muttered a few less-than-complimentary words at the chorus, and this bird in particular, I’m grateful for the numbers and variety of birds around here. So I guess I wouldn’t have it any other way. And just lately, this cardinal hasn’t been on his appointed perch in the wee hours. I’m kind of worried.
I came across this pair of nene, the Hawaiian goose, on one of my walks. They didn’t seem too bothered by my arrival in the vicinity and continued to graze.
A bristle-thighed curlew making its way along the shoreline at Kiholo while searching for food. The middle photo shows it with a small crab that it plucked from one of the tide pools.
Another response to the last edition of the WordPress photo challenge with a theme of ‘
This Hawaiian coot looked surprised to discover a wayward feather in its otherwise immaculate plumage (above). Several attempts to corral the unruly feather failed, leaving the bird with a distinctly grumpy look (middle photo). But a solution was found (below). Time for a stylish V for Victory lap around the pond.
On the first decent day after a long spell of grey, wet weather, I headed up to the Palila Forest Discovery Trail, just off Saddle Road on the lower slopes of Mauna Kea. I figured that even if the weather let me down, it’s a drive that I enjoy, so it would be OK regardless.
When I was out walking in downtown Honolulu, I came across this scene. Someone had had turned on a hose up the street and the ensuing temporary river caused an instant influx of this hoard of white king pigeons.
Graham's Island 