Kauai Part 3: In a land called Hanalei...(marsh birds) (#251-256)

one-lane bridge on the way to Hanalei

The Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge was just down the road from where we were staying on Kauai. We knew it was a spot to check out from some of our target birds, but we had no idea it was THE place to go. We quite literally ticked one of the list as we pulled off the main road and entered the refuge, walked 20 metres, ticked off another, and had all of our target birds within about 5 minutes. These birds are very reliably seen here and for the most part you won't see them as easily anywhere else. The area of the refuge that is accessible and that we visited is a taro field. You have to stick to a short section of the road and they are very strict about that.

view of the taro field

The first bird we spotted was a moorhen. Do you think I can find these at home? At the HNWR, they were so easy to spot. The Hawaiian Moorhen is a subspecies of the Common Moorhen that can only be seen in Hawaii. 

#251: Hawaiian Moorhen ('alae 'ula), HNWR, March 2013

The stilts were fun to watch and looked really long when they came in to land. Their legs are REALLY long, which you can really tell when they are wading as most of their legs are under water.

 #252: Hawaiian Stilt (ae'o), HNWR, March 2013

The Hawaiian coot differs from the American Coot, which has a red "jewel" on its forehead.
#253: Hawaiian Coot ('alae ke'oke'o), HNWR, March 2013  

While it is written about American Coots, check out this really interesting article on coot behaviour. We saw observed some of it here! it was hilarious!

The Hawaiian duck appears similar to female mallards and interbreeding is common in these closely related birds. Kauai is the only place to see genetically pure Hawaiian ducks. I'm not saying these are pure...but I didn't have a DNA test handy..ha! On that note, can you count hybrids? Check out "What birds can I count on my life list?" They were one of the harder birds to observe--they didn't like to get too close and had to be observed from a distance. 

#254: Hawaiian Duck (koloa maoli), HNWR, March 2013  

male

male front, female behind

There was a nest of black-crowned night herons on the other side of the road. We got good looks at the juveniles, and every so often, there would be a great great rustling of the bushes as one departed or arrived. 

On the way out, we spotted a flurry of pollen flying as some little birds disturbed some stalks along the road. I was ecstatic I decided to take a closer look. This was the only nutmeg mannakin I spotted over the whole trip.  They are also known as the "spice finch," and are native to Southest Asia where hey are a common pet.
#255: Nutmeg Mannikin, HNWR, March 2013  

paddling practice on the river. interesting that there is an outrigger on one side only. not what you see here at home. I guess the outriggers would help in choppy ocean waters that we don't get here!

view from the road

While not at the Refuge, we spotted this cattle egret enjoying breakfast right on the side of the road. We watched as it tossed the frog around repeatedly until it got it at just the right spot, then, down the hatch in one shot! This is another one of the few birds that we also get to see on the mainland.
#256: Cattle Egret, Princeville off Kuhio Hwy, March 2013  

Kauai Part 1: Two Chickens in Paradise (#237-241)
Kauai Part 2: All the magic seabirds that live by the sea... (#243-248):
Kauai Part 4: Coming soon!
Kauai Part 5: Coming soon!

mid-week treat (herons)

Wow. What a fantastic day...from start to finish.


Thundershowers were threatening so I was ecstatic when I got home and the rain ended about half an hour later. I had been sort of bummed because I had this bike ride planned and it looked like it was going to be rained out. Anyways, I heard that there were common moorhens nesting in the Terry Fox reservoir. I had no idea there was a reservoir on Terry Fox...it's so close to my house. And I haven't seen moorhens yet. So I jumped on my bike and headed over there.

I found a few caches on the way, and found myself at the spot. I noticed that on the residential side of the street, there was a little creek that feeds the reservoir, so I thought I might as well check it out too. At the end of the path, a woman was looking up at this big tree with a crow in it and pointing her little camera at it. So I went up to her, and she showed me another bird with a white belly just below the crow. "Do you know what that bird is?" she asks.

And this is the part where I love knowing a little bit about something and getting to share it. "Actually, I do." So there was this beautiful black-crowned night heron (which I never would have spotted), posing so very nicely and silently and close to me. I thanked her for pointing it out and got the best pics I've ever got of one of these fantastic birds!!

After that I headed to the other side of the road, where I saw more night herons, juveniles this time...I also saw a bunch flying overhead. The place was crawling with them.

I just can't believe I didn't realize this was there and I can safely say it's one of my new favourite birding spots. It's not that big and there's just one trail running through it, but you can get a good view of the pond, and it seemed to be a really active area. Shortly after, I spotted a green heron fishing, and then later, as I walked down to one area where you can closer to the water, I heard something rustling right behind me, and there's another one, maybe 10 feet away. I absolutely LOVE these birds. Such a treat!!!

looks a little pigeon-toed!

I can't believe these pics turned out at all. I was shooting handheld and cranked the ISO to 1000...which I NEVER do...but it worked out.

It was one of those summer nights where the almost-full moon was hanging large and transparent on the blue sky's horizon and late sun made everything look like gold...you can't help but feel great when things you didn't expect fall into your lap, and everything seems to come together. Maybe it was the yoga I did this afternoon that put me into this mindset, but I felt an immense appreciation for a lot of things in my life.

But I do still need to go back for the moorhens, lol!

Earth Day - Easter long weekend, day 1

Couple of items of business today.

Matt and I checked out Mud Lake...it was so nice outside, and I even got a little sunburn. It was really busy with everyone having the day off and the sun shining. What attracted me there was the gold crowned kinglets, but of course I didn't find one. The first thing we saw were lots of swallows zipping around. I didn't look too carefully but definitely saw barn and tree.

Witnessed something of a kerfluffle between two tree swallows.

Love the forked tail on the barn swallow.

Not far off, we saw this bird, and it looked like it was all wet or something, and maybe trying to dry off. It kept fanning out its tail, and a chickadee was really playing with fire by hopping around really close. Soon after, some gulls came by to harass it until it finally flew off. A few other birders that were there and I concluded that we thought it was a merlin.

Horribly backlit...what can you do?

On the ridge, a yellow-rumped warbler was hanging around and singing loudly.

Lastly, just before leaving, we caught a black-crowned night heron. Such great birds!

I missed this when it originally aired, so I was happy that they were reshowing Saving Pelican 895, an HBO documentary about the rescue response for birds after the oil rig explosion off the gulf of Louisiana (it's on again May 1 and 15 if you missed it). Also, here's the trailer to check out. I was watering up within 60 seconds...I'm so soft. While the story tried to focus on the positive and really focused on the birds, the whole situation makes me so ANGRY. Everyone is complaining about gas prices, but I have no problem with them at all because I hope that MAYBE it will finally force people start looking at the problems with the system and start seriously looking at viable alternatives. Ok, happy Earth Day!
Some stats from the movie:

• 3400 oil rigs off the gulf coast of Louisiana
• 7000 birds dead (seriously...does this not make you feel dead inside?)
• 1200 birds rehabilitated and released into the wild

You may also want to check out this short Cornell video on Youtube: Deepwater Horizon: One Year Later.

Another amazing rehabilitation item: I was amazed, inspired and incredibly jealous to find out that a childhood friend of mine is now working with Kakapo in New Zealand. If you don't know about Kakapo, just watch the first disk of David Attenborough's Life of Birds. They are a flightless parrot and there are only 120 left. Anyways, this girl does seriously cool stuff...she also worked with wolves in Texas. She even has some pics of wolves licking her face.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm seriously questioning my career choice and wishing I was doing something meaningful/wonderful like that. Should have studied biology....

Foxy! 104

Sorry if I've been MIA for a little while. I haven't had a ton of time to dedicate to birding, but the other day I went back to Emerald Meadows to see if the egret was still hanging around---it was, along with a couple of juvenile black-crowned night herons and a great blue. And yesterday we checked out Petrie Island and saw hardly any birds at all!

Today it was super nice so I decided to check out some familiar territory...first Sarsaparilla Trail and Jack Pine Trail. It was totally packed with a gazillion families, and all the kids with their arms stretched out to feed the chickadees.

I camped out in one spot and finally saw a fox sparrow. I've seen lots of song sparrows and wondered if I was somehow not able to tell them apart, but as soon as I saw this one I knew for sure. It looked almost red and you can't miss the grey bits on its head. Was quite pleased, since it posed nicely too!
#104: Fox Sparrow; Sarsaparilla Trail, Ottawa; October 11, 2010
There were tons of dark-eyed juncos today. Here's a pic, a  re-do from the first junco pic I took! And some nice fall colours in the background too.
Happy thanksgiving everyone!

I DID IT! the great one (99), the one that almost was, the one that was (100), and more (101-103)

Well, on Friday, I saw some crows as I usually do and decided it was probably time to photograph these birds to hit 99! So I did, and here ya go. I was hoping to include crows and ravens in the same post, but I guess it didn't work out that way!

#99: American Crow; Jacques Cartier Park, Gatineau; September 24, 2010

Later on in the day, we saw this beautiful hawk and there was a tentative celebration, since I really wasn't sure on the ID. I didn't feel comfortable calling this 100 in case I was wrong. But I really think it's a Broad-Winged Hawk. And then I got to thinking about hawks, and I started to doubt #31. Still unsure...but I'm well over 100 now so no worries!

Look at his pants!

There's this stormwater pond on Eagleson right in the middle of housing developments where a GBH is always hanging out. Well, we drove by the pond, and instead of a heron, saw 2 cormorants and a great egret! I thought it was a bizarre place for it, but it was much closer than the other ones I've seen at so I could get a better picture!

Then I looked over to this grate over to the side and saw the Great Blue in front of it, and in front of it, another heron....but not a Great Blue! At first I thought for sure it was a bittern, but after looking into it, I think it was actually a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron, which was perfect since I had seen one before at Mud Lake but it was super far away.

This is it!
#100: Black-Crowned Night Heron; Eagleson at Bridgestone, September 25, 2010

I headed over to the other side of the street, and there was a little shore bird in the pond there. I was kind of amazed at all the birds in this pond off Eagleson in the middle of Kanata. I guess anything can happen during migration. Anyways, I saw this guy, and there was no looking back....at 100 and apparently I wasn't going to get out of stopping there!!

#101: Lesser Yellowlegs; Eagleson at Bridgestone, September 25, 2010
He was doing these crazy jerky little movements and making noises...it was kind of funny so I took a video! I'll share it when I upload it.

Oh wait, geez, I guess I'm not done. Saw this one on the weekend too. I was looking for herons/bitterns/etc. in a pond when I heard an unfamiliar bird in the trees. Walked towards it not expecting to see anything. Sorry for the crap pic.

#102: Eastern Towhee; near Godfrey; September 26, 2010.

And finally...been trying to get these guys for ages. There were 6 of them eating a deer carcass on the side of the road. This silly turkey ended up costing me $10 since I forgot my lens cap on the hood of the car and drove off without it!
#103: Turkey Vulture; somewhere between Kingston and Ottawa (ha!); September 26, 2010

OK, so it might seem like I kind of glossed over a major milestone here. But don't you worry, the next post will include some pondering and reflection on a year seven months of birding.

YAY!!!!!!!!