Tag Archives: Chickens

Time to get up!

A rooster crows in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Awakening.’ See more responses here.

There’s no shortage of roosters and hens in Hawaii and the roosters are keen to fulfill their role in making sure everyone knows a new day is dawning. However, it has to be noted that they’re just as likely to awaken you from an afternoon nap as from a good night’s sleep. That’s because they can be heard crowing most any time of day, and sometimes half the night, too. This one was going off at five in the afternoon.

Well red

A red windsock at Upolu in Hawaii
The windsock at Upolu Airport with Maui in the background.

This month’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge is ‘Red.’ See more responses here. A variety of subjects for this one!

A red pencil sea urchin in Hawaii
A Red Pencil Urchin in the shallows off Kohala.
A portrait of a chicken in Hawaii
The red crest of one of the many chickens roaming free around here.
A Northern Cardinal in Hawaii
A Northern Cardinal in a tree near the South Kona coast.
A red children's slide in Hawaii
A slide at a kid’s playground in Waimea.
A red buoy on a beach in Hawaii
A large buoy on the beach at Kawaihae Harbor with an inter-island barge arriving in the background.

Funky chicken

A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii

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!

Hen and chicks

A hen with her chicks

This hen and her brood of chicks were foraging on shore at Honokohau Harbor. Most places in Hawaii have a generous number of hens and roosters wandering free, with Kaui particularly notorious for its abundance of roaming poultry.

Red junglefowl

A Red junglefowl in Hawaii
A Red junglefowl in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Fur and Feathers.’ See more responses here.

This bird is probably a red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) or Moa in Hawaii. I say probably, because some regular chickens (Gallus domesticus) can have a similar look and there is considerable interbreeding between the two species.

The red junglefowl is considered to be the first introduced bird species in Hawaii, since it was brought here by early Polynesian settlers.

All kinds of backyard birds

  • A gray francolin contemplates a mango.
    A gray francolin contemplates a mango.
  • A male northern cardinal looking quizzical.
    A male northern cardinal looking quizzical.
  • A Japanese white-eye check calls out.
    This Japanese white-eye chick was one of two the ended up on the lawn when their nest fell out of a mango tree.
  • A rooster rests in a hedge.
    The spot in the hedge where Hoppy the rooster slept before his disappearance.
  • A pair of saffron finch juveniles forage in the grass.
    A pair of saffron finch juveniles forage in the grass.
  • A red-billed leiothrix calls out.
    Red-billed leiothrixes sweep through in flocks and are more often heard than seen.
  • A nutmeg mannikin feeds on cane grass seeds.
    A nutmeg mannikin feeds on cane grass seeds.
  • A yellow-billed cardinal keeps a wary eye out.
    A yellow-billed cardinal keeps a wary eye out.
  • Two zebra doves looking slightly affronted.
    Two zebra doves looking slightly affronted, possibly at having their picture taken.

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.

Hoppy the rooster

This is the first day of Becky’s July Squares challenge theme of ‘Perspective.’ See more responses here.

I thought I’d start with this photo. To many people this probably looks like a somewhat windblown rooster, but from my perspective, this is something else entirely. This is Hoppy, the temporally-challenged rooster. This is Hoppy, the no-amplifier-required rooster. This is Hoppy, the demon rooster.

Hoppy has a bad foot, hence the name, and perhaps this has thrown him off. He’s started crowing as early as 1:30 in the morning, but regularly pipes up in the two o’clock hour, the three o’clock hour, the four o’clock hour, and the five o’clock hour. Since his roost is in the hedge next to the house, his first blasts tend to be close by, and he is loud. Perhaps it’s just because it’s so quiet otherwise, but his call carries and I don’t need to hear rooster rock at those hours.

I generally succeeded in training him not to hang out into the yard, but have failed to dislodge him from his roost. He keeps coming back. Or should I say, kept coming back. Whisper it quietly, but I haven’t seen or, more importantly, heard Hoppy for three days now. Whilst I’ve thought unkind thoughts about him, I haven’t actually done anything to him. But other people live within earshot, so perhaps they have. Or maybe Hoppy just wandered off in the same way that he wandered in. He never acquired any hens here, so I’ll think positively and and hope he’s found a true love and is happy. Unless he comes back, that is.

Dawn chorus

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Awakening.’ See more offerings here.

Around here, awakening is usually courtesy of the dawn chorus. That occurs when the birds themselves awaken and announce to the world that they made it through the night. Pretty much every bird species that lives within earshot takes part, but there are some standouts.

Roosters (above) are the traditional greeter of the new day and that’s true here, though it has to be noted that they’re equally likely to sound off at any time of the day or night. This neighborhood used to be rooster-free for several years. Then one wandered in from across the road and now there are several in the vicinity. One in particular keeps trying to make my yard part of its territory. I am resolved to prevent this.

Gray francolins (right) are smaller than roosters but might be even louder. Their call has a little wind up before soaring to full screech. It gets people’s attention at any time of day, but at 5:30 in the morning it’s more effective than mainlining caffeine.

The northern cardinal (below) is a smaller bird still but, from its typically high perch, its variety of powerfully-sung songs tend to ride over everything. But rest assured, the other birds contribute, from the red-billed leiothrix, to Japanese white-eyes, to an assortment of finches, they make sure that I’m up to greet the sunrise, whether I want to or not.