Tag Archives: Peacocks

Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo

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Sriracha, a tiger at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Sriracha yawns. Check out those teeth!

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Animal or Bird in farm or zoo.’ See more responses here.

Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, is the only zoo on the island. It’s quite small, but is definitely a family-friendly destination. We like to visit once in a while to see the zoo’s star attractions, Sriracha and Tzatziki, a pair of Bengal Tigers. Captions are on the photos.

An Emu at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
An Emu having a good hair day.
A Red Tegu lizard at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
A Red Tegu lizard.
A Peacock at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Peacocks wander the grounds looking for tasty snacks.
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles.
Tzatziki, a white tiger at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii
Tzatziki, staying cool in the shade of a stand of bamboo.
A bench representing Hawaiian crows at Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, in Hilo, Hawaii

This is one of the many benches in the zoo representing animals that live there. These are ‘Alalās, the endemic Hawaiian Crow. There are no longer any ‘Alalās in the wild and just over a hundred in captivity. The building behind this bench is one of the few places where these birds are bred, with a view to reintroducing them in the wild. So far, attempts to do this have failed, for a variety of reasons including disease and predation. One of the current projects is a release on Maui where Ios, Hawaiian hawks, a major predator of ‘Alalās, are no longer found.

The Numbers Game #57

The crosswalk leading to Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube) in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
The crosswalk leading to Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube) in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park during Covid restrictions.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 178. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

An Oriental Stink Bug in Hawaii
An Oriental Stink Bug.
An Indian Blue Peacock at Panaʻewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo, Hawaii
An Indian Blue Peacock at Panaʻewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo, Hawaii
Cattle keeping an eye on passers-by below Hawi Wind Farm.
Osmoxylon lineare.
Japanese Aloe.
Dead fish among rocks at Kiholo, Hawaii
Dead fish on shore at the head of the lagoon in Kiholo Bay.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Geometric. See more responses here.

Strutting his stuff

A male peacock struts his stuff at Manuka State Wayside Park in Hawaii

The Common Peafowl (Pavo Christatus) is better known as a peacock. The adult males are wildly colorful, and would look right at home in a Las Vegas chorus line.

A male peacock struts his stuff at Manuka State Wayside Park in Hawaii

These birds weren’t seen in Vegas, but at Manuka State Wayside Park, when I was down that way earlier this year. It was only when I saw them that I remembered I’d seen them there before, when I first moved to the island and lived just down the road for a while.

A male peacock struts his stuff at Manuka State Wayside Park in Hawaii

There are a few wild populations on the islands, but supposedly, most are quite shy. These weren’t, wandering around the parking and picnic areas, and entirely indifferent to those of us taking photos.