Late Start Today

I have made up my mind to start my morning walk around sunrise even as sunrise becomes earlier as we head towards the summer solstice. Today I overslept; for whatever reason I forgot to put my Fitbit back on after my shower so it wasn't there to wake me up. I can ignore the alarm clock but its difficult for me to ignore something vibrating on my wrist. Starting my walk at 9 minutes past sunrise made for a hotter, sweatier walk; so I'll get up earlier so I can continue to start my walk just before sunrise. I saw Gwen, Carly, & Kea twice on my walk. I also saw LaVie twice.

Nine minutes after sunrise on Maunalani.

Twenty-six minutes after sunrise.

The other reason I want to continue to start around sunrise is that the bird activity was noticeably less with my later start. I saw several pairs of Red-whiskered Bulbuls during the morning walk; they are in the same genus as the Red-vented Bulbuls but are a much lighter colored bird. They also have a red vent like the Red-vented but the area is smaller and does not contrast as much with their lighter chest & throat. The Red-vented is dark gray & black so the red patch stands out a lot.

Red-whiskered Bulbuls (Pycnonotus jocosus).

When I went to feed Chibi this morning I could hear her breathing as I walked in to the family room; I couldn't see her. I found her under the couch; she was making labored noises on both the inhale and exhale. I called and got an appointment for her at 9:30 this morning with Dr. Sylvester; because of the difficulty breathing Dr. Sylvester wanted to keep her for the day. She called a couple hours later with some good news; they called VERC and got the biopsy report, the growth was not neoplasia, so not cancer. They had given Chibi a steroid injection as well as an injection of antibiotic and a painkiller and she was breathing easier. Dr. Sylvester wanted to keep an eye on Chibi, so she took Chibi home with her to watch her overnight! 


I was running out of windshield washer fluid so I went in search of the Rain-X glass water repellent that I used in Washington. It leaves a film on the windshield that is super slippery so water droplets get blown off by the airflow over the windshield. I think it is even more useful here since there is not usually so much precipitation that I need to use the windshield wipers a lot. I prefer the one you add to the windshield washer reservoir so it is applied every time you clean your windshield rather than the one you apply by hand every so often when you remember to do it. A cool thing I found out was that the front & rear windshield washer reservoirs are linked; the rear one will go dry before the front one so it acts as an early warning. There is also a signal on the dash when you are close to totally running out of washer fluid; which is what prompted the Rain-X search this morning.

I can't remember when my other Subaru's engine compartment was this clean!

This afternoon Elena moved to the bunkhouse that is used by the US Fish & Wildlife Service in conjunction with the State Department of Forestry & Wildlife. We met Naomi & Matt there in the afternoon; they spend half their time here and half their time on Kure Atoll doing bird & seal surveys. Elena will stay at the  bunkhouse until the room at the Zoo is available; staying at the Zoo will be the most convenient for her since the bunkhouse is several bus rides away. The only thing she doesn't know about the Zoo accommodations is whether she will be able to leave the grounds after 5 p.m. when the Zoo closes. As a parting gift Elena left a box of cookies. We will be keeping in touch with her and taking her out for Hawaiian food at a later date.


Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Jesse!