Wednesday Pueo Survey

On Wednesday evening I went out to the Hamakua Marsh with Kyle on my first Pueo survey for the Pueo Project! We didn't see any Pueo, but we saw a lot of 'Auku'u or Black-crowned Night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) and Ae'o or Hawaiian Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni). We found several intact owl pellets, later someone will identify what the prey item was. It is a good thing that I have been doing a lot of walking; we had to hike in about a half mile to get to the survey spot. And its a good thing I walk around a lot in the dark, we hiked out after sunset with no lights. Since I was nearby, I stopped to visit Kit & Felipe. It was good to see them, but I got back home fairly late, hence this midday post on Thursday rather than late Wednesday night.

The Pueo hunt on this hillside.

Here is an owl pellet; owls throw up these undigestible parts. That's Kyle's hand in the photo.

This is an owl pellet that has fallen apart due to weather and/or other critters. And another photo of Kyle's hand.

Nursing home tip of the day: When they give you the stool softener, take it! Don't spit it out like Dad. Things will be better in the end!

The park was very busy yesterday morning at 7:30! The parking lot was full and so were the courts; I'm not sure exactly what was going on but there were a lot of youth there. I forgot the binoculars so I couldn't check out the birds in the trees; but it didn't seem like there were any new species. I did find the remains of the centipede that I saw on Monday; it is now definitely dead.

Having trouble with my photo function, so I couldn't rotate or crop this photo to show the centipede.

This will become my early morning view as I do my cool down stretches.

For my 2nd walk, I went at about 10 when Dad was in the activity room, learning how to make somen salad with Susie. (The residents watch, while Susie makes it; then they get to eat it!) I remembered to take the binoculars this time but didn't see anything new; I need to start a checklist for the park. When I went to change after I got back, Susie gave me a big plate of somen salad; it was delicious! I hope to get the recipe for it.

Susie filled up the plate, I just forgot to take a photo until I had eaten a lot of it.

On my 3rd walk, there were no new birds but I did see the White-rumped Shama again. And a FedEx truck with a flat. The tow truck driver was using the lift to raise the front end of the van so that the driver could replace the flat tire.

The White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) is on the 2nd trunk from the left.

Here is the complete list of the 16 bird species that I have seen at Maunalani Park since I started my walks when Dad arrived in April. This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of The Check-list of North American Birds (7th edition through the 58th supplement, 2017), published by the American Ornithological Society. The  codes following the scientific name represent the distribution and population status of the species in Hawai'i. "(En) = Endemic - a species either entirely confined to the Hawaiian Islands in its natural distribution, or a species whose breeding range is entirely confined to the Hawaiian Islands. ... (I) = Introduced - established solely as result of human intervention. ... LC = least concern. ... VU = vulnerable" In some places I have added the local ethnic name for the species.
Spotted dove, Spilopelia chinensis (I) LC
Zebra dove, Geopelia striata (I) LC
Pacific golden plover, Pluvialis fulva LC (aka kolea)
Cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis LC
Red-vented bulbul, Pycnonotus cafer (I) LC
Japanese white-eye, Zosterops japonicus (I) LC (aka mejiro)
White-rumped shama, Copsychus malabaricus (I) LC
Common myna, Acridotheres tristis (I) LC
Common waxbill, Estrilda astrild (I) LC
Java sparrow, Padda oryzivora (I) VU (I'm guessing it is vulnerable in its home range, but not in Hawai'i.)
House sparrow, Passer domesticus (I) LC
House finch, Haemorhous mexicanus (I) LC
Yellow-fronted canary, Crithagra mozambica (I) LC
Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis (I) LC
Red-crested cardinal, Paroaria coronata (I) LC
Saffron finch, Sicalis flaveola (I) LC

Happy Belated Birthday to Alika & Tristan!