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| Waikiki Beach, O'ahu |
At the end of June we spent two nights in Honolulu before coming back to the mainland. This was the view from our hotel, not bad, huh? The birds weren't bad either.
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| Cattle Egret |
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| Yellow-fronted Canary, Kapi'olani Park |
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| Common Waxbill, Kapi'olani Park |
I found my target bird, White Tern, from our balcony. I waited on the beach for one to come close enough for a decent photograph. I must have looked pretty funny as I stood on the beach with my back to the ocean looking up at the sky with my camera ready. Oh well, it wasn't the first time.
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| White "Fairy" Tern (Manu-o-Ku) |
In the next shot you can see the fish in its bill and its large black eyes.
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| White "Fairy" Tern (Manu-o-Ku) |
The state of Hawai'i lists them as threatened. In 2005, there were an estimated 250 breeding pairs on O'ahu. Interestingly, they breed not in the remote parts of the island, but right in the urban center of Honolulu. Because of this, the city of Honolulu has adopted the White Tern as its official bird. I'm told they do not build a traditional nest, but lay the egg and incubate it on a tree branch. Knowing this, it's hard for me to believe that the Honolulu population has the highest fledgling success rate of any population. The largest populations in 2005 were on Midway (7,500 pairs) and Nihoa (5,000 pairs), both uninhabited by humans.
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| Diamond Head seen from Kapi'olani Park |