Welcome to Honolulu!

I finally got around to sorting through over 800 images of birds from my trip to Hawai'i.  So I thought I'd start off by sharing the birds I saw during our brief layover at Honolulu International Airport.  I purchased The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific a month before my trip and spent hours thumbing through it to learn the new birds.  Now it was time to put my studying to the test. 

Only the necessities: Starbuck's sandwich, lava-filtered water, bins, pen, notepad

The first birds I saw while eating lunch were Cattle Egrets flying overhead.  Then Gaby spotted a couple Zebra Doves milling about.  I was hoping to see White Terns here, but I only saw the egrets.  So we went out to a courtyard to see what was around.  Right away I noticed a Common Myna like this one singing up on the wall.  It would be the first of many I would see.

Common Myna

Some doves and cardinals were hanging out on the grass.

Zebra Dove

Spotted Dove

Red-crested Cardinal

Japanese White-eye

These five birds would turn out to be the most common ones I would see on Oahu and Kaua'i, not counting chickens (more on that later).  Then I spotted some birds I would only see on Oahu.

Red-vented Bulbul

Red-whiskered Bulbul (my only one of the trip)

What an awesome way to start off the trip- seven lifers in about an hour!  Stay tuned, I have many more birds to share.