Rescued from the archive

I've spent a lot of time of late in the house processing images from years past rather than getting out birding and taking new photographs. The two images here bring back pleasant memories of warmer times on the Kona coast, Hawaii in January 2009; bristle-thighed curlew above, and pacific golden plover below. The images selected were on a dvd of processed TIFFs (I keep the RAW files seperate) - and during the process of todays' review I managed to corrupt the dvd - luckily the images were salvage using a sandisk rescue program...

PS - click the images to see the larger size / sharp image... the blogger program has a habit of making the images look soft!

Thunderbirding

It's been a week of nightshift - so little birding (if any at all) over the past few days. The cold weather has not done much for my garden birds - only the hardy collard dove, robin and blackbird have been visiting the feeder. All the House Sparrows have disappeared.

In the time between getting up in the afternoon and heading off to work for the night I've spent some time working on bird photographs from the recent Hawaii trip - I fear it'll take a while to complete this selection. I've also been planning future trips for 2009 - April will see me heading off to Thailand and probably Iona for corncrake, with August still to be confirmed.

I've also taken delivery of this cracker - an epiphone thunderbird IV bass!!! I'll apologise in advance to my neighbours... maybe.

This morning twenty waxwing flew over the house, so maybe things are looking better. I must get out more...

Bristle-thighed Curlew

Bird of the trip for me, this bristle-thighed curlew was delightfully confiding. I found this bird on an afternoon shore-line walk... and admit that my language was a little blue as I scrambled to attach a tele converter to the 500mm lens prior to getting my first record photographs. As it turned out no tele convertor was needed - this bird was fearless and would frequently walk past at an un-focusable distance. I was fortunate enough to have several sessions with this bird.

This bird was very entertaining to watch feeding - chasing crabs around rock pools (literally), then bashing them on rocks to enable swallow-able chunks to be devoured!

Bristle-thighed curlew breed locally in the tundra of west Alaska and winters among Pacific islands, it is more common in the north-west Hawaiian islands but is considered rare on the main Hawaiian islands. It's unique among waders as it is flightless during moult - perhaps a reason why there are only approximatley 7,000 left...

Ae'o

Or Hawaiian stilt... I was very pleased to stumble across five birds south of our resort on Kahapapa fishpond. Stilts are a very pleasant species to observe, they're delightfully delicate. This endemic race of black-necked stilt is only found locally on all of the Hawaiian main islands, and was a species I thought I was going to miss on the visit. According to the Hawaii Audubon Society their population (1998-2003 data) is only approximatley 1,350 birds.

Wandering Tattler

Common in the Waikoloa area, this wandering tattler was photographed on the man-made pool next to the kings shopping complex.

Pacific Goldie

Pacific golden plover, or kolea, is an abundant winter visitor to Hawaii. Indeed, it was one of the first birds I saw on our first morning on the Big Island. Their abundance is, for a UK birder, brilliant - with birds noted on garden lawns, roadsides, garage roofs and golf courses. Another advantage for me was their boldness - this species was quite happy to feed among sunbathers in our resort, so photography was a relative ease (other than curious holiday makers and, er, hotel security, enquiring about the camera equipment being used!) All of the photographs presented here were taken in the hotel grounds.

The birds were often very territorial, immediately chasing other pgps' away from their own feeding patch. When feeding the birds would often run a short distance, stop, then pick a grub out of the grass... then do it all again.

Hakalau NWR

An early start saw us heading to Hakalau NWR on January 2nd, on a pre-booked forest tour with Hawaii Forest and Trail, our primary target species being the native forest endemics including Pueo, Io, Omao, Elepaio, Hawaii Amakihi, Akepa, Hawaii Creeper, Akiapolaau, Iiwi, and Apapane. Our guide for the day was Garry Dean who was extremely knowledgeable about the natural history of Hawaii. Garry gave nothing less than 100% throughout the tour and is highly recommended - his knowledge of endemic species, including recognition of species calls was invaluable. Recordings of the endemics calls can be heard here on the HFT website.

Departing Waikoloa we headed east to the saddle road, quickly picking up two short-eared owl (pueo, see previous post), Eurasian skylark, ring-necked pheasant (including green form versicolor), erckel's francolin, wild turkey and house finch. The scenery was nothing less than spectacular, with the snow capped peak of Mauna Kea dominating on the Saddle Road and incredible lava formations aplenty.

Later we joined the unpaved Keanakolu Road for 11 miles to the Pua Akala tract of the private refuge. Along this road (drivable only by 4 wheel vehicle, access by permit only) we picked up two Hawaiian hawk ('io), one pale phase, one dark phase, and three kalij pheasant. Erckel's francolin and Eurasian skylark were common, but we failed to locate any koloa (Hawaiian duck) on the ponds.

Our arrival at the forest was greeted with an nene (Hawaiian goose) in the grassy car parking area - closer inspection revealed a sitting female, nesting under an old unused vehicle! Up to four birds were present in the area, with all adults ringed by the refuge.

Heading into the forest native species soon appeared, with the delightfully scarlet i'iwi (with it's rusty hinge-like call) and crimson 'apapane being most abundant. Quickly the weather turned and it remained wet throughout the visit - clearly photography was going to be difficult, and pictures in this post are nothing more than record shots, with the 100mm-400mm lens only used.

Descending further into the forest we were treated to good views of Hawaiian 'elepaio - a small and active flycatcher with a distinctive cocked up tail. Soon we heard our first of several olive green plumaged Hawaiian creeper (the only endemic not to have a local Hawaiian name), and soon we had good views of a bird creeping - just like nuthatch in the UK! At least four of the finch-like 'akepa were seen (two pairs, the males are a gorgeous peachy orange colour!) and vocal 'oma'o (Hawaiian thrush) were noted several times along with vibrant green Hawaii 'amakihi. Of all the target species only 'Akiapola'au was not seen (though it was heard on one occasion...) The walk back produced a few gaudy red-billed leiothrix and japanese white-eye.

All in all a super trip, highly recommended. Pictures in this post are as follows (top to bottom): 'Oma'o, male 'akepa, 'i'iwi, hawaii 'elepaio, nene.

Pueo

Pueo (or Hawaiian owl) is the endemic race of short-eared owl asio flammeus sandwichensis that occurs on Hawaii.

Short-eared owl have a worldwide range that covers North America South America, Eurasia, North Africa, Middle East, Pakistan and S China; the Caribbean, Falkland Islands, Galapagos, and Hawaiian Islands.

This photograph was taken on the Saddle Road en-route to Hakalau. One of two birds seen (the first was observed flying off with a large rodent), this bird duly obliged by sitting on a roadside fence post while we observed from the comfort of our 4x4 van. I can't say that there is any significant plumage variation to birds that I have seen in the UK, nor that it is unusual to see a short-eared owl during daylight - it was however a very good start to our day with Hawaii Forest and Trail.

Hawaii 5 (intr)o

At last! Hawaii pictures... Let's start with some of the colourful introductions... it is an introductory post isn't it!?

We arrived on Hawaii late evening on Dec 31st - as we were disembarking the plane I received a text from my boss - holidaying in New Zealand - it had a great line (spellings per text message) "at an albatros colony lot of fuss for a big seagull". Class!!

So, back to the birds - first species on Jan 1st 2009 were common myna... nutmeg mannikin... spotted dove... house sparrow... zebra dove & pacific golden plover. This was certainly going to be a cosmopolitan week! Birds featured in this blog post are as follows (all photographed in the hotel grounds):

African silverbill - formerly considered a subspecies of warbling silverbill, the exact date of introduction is unknown, probably in the early 1970's. Regarded as common on Hawaii, this species is, surprisingly, from Africa...

Java sparrow - A native of Indonesia, locally common on Hawaii, introduced in 1867 and re-introduced in 1967 (must like them here, eh?). Certainly common in the resort with flocks feeding on lawns adjacent the hotel rooms. Massive beak!

Nutmeg mannikin - Introduced from south-east Asia in about 1865, widespread on all Hawaii. On the resort this species would often associate with house sparrow, java sparrow and saffron finch.

Saffron finch - these belters were a delight! Surprisingly easy to overlook when out walking, birds would often allow close approach - until a camera was pointed at them! This species is regarded as common on the Kona coast, a native of South America introduced in the 1960's. Lisa ("Birding reluctantly most-times") liked these alot!

Yellow-fronted canary - also regarded as common on the Kona coast (though not particularly on our resort), this attractive species is native to Africa and was introduced in the late 1960's.

All introduction species data extracted from "Hawaii's Birds" published by the Hawaii Audubon Society. A recommended purchase if you're heading out to Hawaii.

Plenty more images to follow - I'll try and put a few native / naturally occurring species on the blog soon!

Cold

It certainly is. Arrived back in the UK on Sunday 11th mid afternoon and spent the rest of the day trying to get back into "normal mode". Retired to bed early evening and woke up at 03.30 - jet lag has set in!

Ok, down to business - here's a rough list of the species seen while I was away. Departed UK on 29th December for 2 nights in Los Angeles - birding was restricted to a morning at Santa Monica beach, then onto Hawaii (the Big Island) for seven nights at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. During the stay on Hawai'i we were able to take a full day excursion with Hawai'i Forest & Trail to the permit only Hakalau reserve - more on this great biring day in another post. Departing Hawaii on the morning of the 7th we headed to San Francisco for 3 nights via a few hours stop over at Honolulu on Oahu.

I've taken a heap of photographs, these will creep onto the blog over the next few weeks.

The unofficial "list", probably with spelling mistakes etc:

1. great white egret



2. american crow



3. anna's hummingbird



4. black phoebe



5. yellow rumped warbler



6. western gull



7. western scrub jay



8. bushtit



9. house sparrow



10. starling



11. mourning dove



12. sanderling



13. brewers blackbird



14. heermann's gull



15. double crested cormorant



16. brandt's cormorant



17. pacific diver



18. surf scoter



19. marbled godwit



20. willet



21. brown pelican



22. glaucous-winged gull (SM/Hawaii (Waikoloa imm on 3rd Jan, rare but annual on Big Island)/SF))



23. herring gull



24. forster's tern



25. california gull



26. common myna



27. nutmeg mannikin



28. spotted dove



29. zebra dove



30. pacific golden plover - unbelievably common and tame on Hawaii: car parks, grass verges on roads, garage roofs.... !



31. saffron finch



32. wandering tattler



33. black-crowned night heron



34. japanese white-eye



35. yellow billed cardinal



36. northern cardinal



37. african silverbill



38. bristle-thighed curlew (star bird on trip, single at Waikoloa throughout stay - oblivious to humans, many, many photographs taken!!)



39. short-eared ("hawaiian") owl - seen at close range on Saddle Road



40. ring-necked pheasant (inc green morph)



41. erckel's francolin



42. skylark



43. hawaiian hawk - pale and dark morph seen



44. wild turkey



45. kalij pheasant



46. red-billed leiothrix



47. house finch



48. yellow fronted canary



49. 'elepaiao - ridgwayi form



50. 'omao



51. 'akepa



52. 'amakihi



53. hawaiian creeper



54. 'apanane



55. 'i'wii



56. nene



57. java sparrow



58. ruddy turnstone



59. hawaiian stilt - 5 on pools north of hotel



60. grey francolin



61. red-vented bulbul



62. red-whiskered bulbul



63. red-crested cardinal



64. mew gull



65. ring-billed gull



66. western grebe



67. orange-crowned warbler



68. red-masked parakeet



69. great blue heron



70. greater scaup



71. ruddy duck



72. bufflehead



73. pied billed grebe



74. eared (black-necked) grebe



75. killdeer



76. least sandpiper



77. song sparrow



78. white-crowned sparrow



79. goldened-crowned sparrow



80. california towhee



81. american coot



82. snowy egret



83. northern mockingbird



84. red-winged blackbird



85. mallard



86. canada goose



87. chestnut backed chickadee



88. american robin



89. common yellowthroat



90. townsends warbler



91. ruby crowned kinglet



92. dark eyed junco



93. hermit thrush



94. raven



95. red-tailed hawk



96. red-shouldered hawk



97. american wigeon



98. pygmy nuthatch



99. red-breasted nuthatch

Annoyingly 'akiapola'au was only heard in Hakalau.

Hot Hot Hot!!!

Quick update from a rather expensive hotel PC (50 cents a min!!). Currently birding in Hawaii - a lot of introduced species and a nice quota of endemics! Even found my own GWG - who needs an adult in Cleveland (er, me)... Updates and pics when I'm back in blighty!