I know I'm back in Hawai'i when I see these three bronze wahines mid-step in their traditional Hula. Once again, the lucky rabbit I was born under the sign of, worked its magic, and my amazingly sweet friends, Ron, Jeannie & Jeannie's daughter Stephanie, invited me to accompany them for my 3rd trip to the Big Island, and my first trip to Kauai'i. Aloha ekolu (3) Maidens!
Spotted Dove inside Oahu Airport
Our nearly 5 hour flight to the Big Island was delayed by 3 hours, a good thing because had our flight run on time we'd have likely missed it. So when we made it to Kona it was twilight, and we were tired. On previous trips, I reserved the final two days of the trip to rent a car and bird off on my own. This trip however I wanted to bird a reserve that is only open on weekends so shortly after landing, I picked up a rental 4WD jeep so I could spend my first 2 days on the Big Island, birding. Saturday morning I decided I was too sleepy for an early start so I decided to visit a good birding spot, the Thurston Tunnel, located in Volcanoes National Park. I was pretty direct about getting there, only stopping at the tiny roadside park, Waiohinu Park, in the sleepy town of Naalehu along the way. Common Mynas, House Finches and other birds bathed in puddles and were perturbed at being viewed in such delicate positions.
'Excuse me... don't you see I'm bathing here?' - Saffron Finch (introduced species)
Yellow-fronted Canary - another introduced species
non-native, Japanese White-eye: photo by Hearman
Once at Volcanoes NP, I skipped the usual tour, as I knew I was bound to tour the park later in the week with Ron, Jeannie & Stephie. Instead I avoided the tourists, meandering through the shady rain forest, which echoed with the roar of loud bird song. I could spot the tiny Japanese White-eyes shooting through the canopy, and what I imagine may have been a few of the more exotic forest species, but those birds were just too fast for me. I did manage to spot and even photograph an old favorite - a genuine native Hawaiian species, the scarlet red Apapane. The species is lucky to still be common, not having declined in numbers as high as other native species in the face of Hawaii's unfortunate Bird Malaria problems.
Apapane, a cherry red species of Hawaiian honey creeper.
Volcano National Park Rain Forest - with hammock-like spider's webs
The only other native Hawaiian species I enjoyed dropped onto a branch so close to me I almost had to back up to get photos with my telephoto lens. The bold Oma'o, a Hawaiian Thrush, announced itself with a brusk call notes. Well aloha to you too!
Bold Oma'o
On my drive northwest, back to Kona, I stopped to buy some fruit in Naalehu. The ladies were quite friendly & talked me into purchasing probably twice as much fruit as all four of us could eat in the week we'd have on the island.
Saturday Farmer's Market
The colorful pink ones are Dragon Fruit, the knobby green fruit are Custard
Apples (Cherimoya), apple bananas (my favorite!) and oranges
I decided to treat myself to stopping at South Point, the southernmost tip of the United States.
The cliffs at Ka Lae
Pan'o'rama'jama shot along the shoreline
At day's end I felt I'd not exactly pushed myself birding-wise, but then again, the previous day had been a marathon from 4AM until I finally hit the pillow around 2AM California time (3 hrs later in Hawaii). Decided to cut myself some slack and be not happy, but THRILLED with the birds and the shots I'd managed on the south of the Big Island. As I drifted off to sleep I mused over other sights I'd enjoyed over the day...zzzzzzzzz
A Grant's Zebra and his donkey friend in a pasture along the Mamalahoa Highway.
Mouflon Sheep, also spotted along the highway
The skies over the Pacific during the island hop from Oahu to Hawaii, the Big Island
I think it is fall; true, it's still warm out there and the leaves are resisting color change, but Halloween is approaching and somewhere, high up in the sky, geese and ducks are passing overhead, winging south. In the Sacramento area, Autumn is celebrated by trekking east to Placer County to Apple Hill. Apple Hill is where crafts & winter comfort foods migrate to this time of year. Really, they do. Not having visited the region in a long time, the apple pie content of my blood being low, I decided is high time I get up there for a visit. To that end, I invited Barbara and Judy to 'Chez Claire' and bright and early-ish we headed up Highway 50.
Soon we were happily perusing the calorie laiden, apple-ie treats available to unsuspecting tourist types like us.
Dear me... where is my Weight Watchers point counter?
Barbara, Judy and lady who sells apple products one doesn't require an iPad to fully enjoy
Through a glass pane, an foot high pile of apple slices await a doughy topping
We were lucky enough to be able to explore the quaint roads of the Apple Hill region on a week day, so we didn't hav e much traffic, of the vehicle or people kind to deal with.
Quite a pleasant drive down shade speckled roads
Many of the stops we made are ready for Halloween
Many farms let you pick your own apples, others, even let you pick your own pumpkin
There were lots of flowered vistas to enjoy
Panorama 'Jamma Pix from an Apple Hill Shop
Mid-afternoon we had our lunch at a spot that featured a duck pond and crafts galore. We enjoyed several stops around Apple Hill, and tried not to buy too much apple-related goodies, though I admit, a near bushel of apples, a gigantic frozen apple pie, some cookies and a caramel/chocolate/nut covered apple-on-a-stick, did make it into the car. Finally, when we felt throughly apple saturated, we headed back to Fair Oaks.
Oooo bonus photo! The night before the Apple Hill adventure, Barbara, Judy and Robin were my willing guinea pigs. They were subjected to my culinary skills, which this time included some lamb chops which I secured from Robin a while back at Meridian Ranch. My 'Chez Claire' guests seemed to enjoy the herb encrusted lamb chops, scalloped potatoes and winter squash medley well enough. By my own reckoning, the dinner was tasty and 'better than a meal I fed to them earlier in the year. Well! Practice, apparently does make perfect - or as good as it gets anyway.
Mob of thoroughly Cuckoo birders in Ramsey Park, Watsonville California.
In the middle of rather-late-in-the-year Spring cleaning, preparing menus and itinerary for oncoming house guests at Chez Claire, I was busy, busy, busy! Then it happened
CUCKOO!
One o'clock? Nope! A real live Common Cuckoo shocked the California birding community by showing up, unpresidented, unexpectedly in Watsonville. Well, you might ponder, no biggie - just a common bird. Well, it is called a 'Common' Cuckoo, but it's only common if you live in say, the Black Forest of Germany. The Common Cuckoo seldom shows up in North America, unless you include the far western Aleutian islands. So, as far as ditching my numerous obligations and preparations, did I really have a choice. Nope. So, after arguing with Don that there was no way I could possibly drive ditch my obligations to see a bird, did indeed ditch everything, hop on down to Don's place and we were quickly off to see our target lifer birdie.
When we finally made our way sleepy little Ramsey Park, it was literally awash with Cuckoo oriented birders. The bird, rather obediently, was present and my initial view of it was through the spotting scope of a stranger, who only too happy to offer me a peek at the bird. It rather looked like an exotic fan dancer of the 19th century, as it was enveloped in Sycamore leaves. The photos below - not great - were photographed with my old iPhone through someone else's spotting scope.
View of the Cuckoo through it's hiding place in a Sycamore tree.
I was thrilled to see the little bird, I can tell you, and I wondered if
I had been alone and spotted it, would I have taken note of how
different it looked? Such is the stuff of a birder's daymares - would I
have noticed it was not a mourning dove. Well, probably, but there is
always that nagging little doubt. AAARRRGGGHHH! Be gone damned mental
torture!
Not really as grumpy as it appears in this shot.
Don takes a victory walk after his viewing of the Cuckoo
For the truly curious, here are some better photos of the bird, here.
We probably hung around the Cuckoo site around 90 minutes, then went off to view a Franklin's Gull at a nearby slough. Then, it was time for me to head back home and get on with Spring Cleaning.
