Morning Birding

I had good intentions of getting up about 30 minutes before sunrise so Louie & I could be out and about at 10 minutes before sunrise. But I couldn't get my contacts in, I had gone to bed too late and gotten up too early. So I went back to bed; we started our morning walk around 9:15 and did about 3/4 mile in 20 minutes. While we were out we met Gerald & Finn; or I should say I met them since Louie already knew them! They live across the cul-de-sac from Mary Ellen & Michael and occasionally Louie goes over for a doggie play date. Gerald told me about a loop that is about 1.5 miles long; he has got a 2 mile loop he does but he said that would just get me lost.

Louie patiently waiting for us to start our morning walk.

Most of my birding this morning was by ear; I heard birds and knew by their songs or calls which ones they were. Today I saw or heard these 8 species: Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Steller's Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, and Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon). The flicker was interesting, it was actually drumming on a metal chimney flue to amplify the sound of its mating "call".

Northern Flicker.

I will need to borrow some gloves from Mary Ellen; the heated vest doesn't do much to keep my fingers warm! My ears were also a little cold. I can't tell you how cold it was when I was out because I didn't check. But I do know it has remained cold enough that there are still piles of snow in the shaded areas.


The most important thing today was meeting with Wing to see what kind of services Kai qualifies for; through her agency we found out that was nothing. So we go back to the drawing board and are looking at other options.

After we met with Wing, I picked Sherie up. She came over to Mary Ellen & Michael's to give Kai and me haircuts. She also cleaned up Kai's beard. Sherie has a new rescue dog that she is rehabilitating. Spike growled at me when I first went to pick Sherie up but by the time I dropped her off, Spike had warmed up to me and only barked when I tried to leave.

Before.

After.

When I got back Mary Ellen & Michael had guests. It was Tambe, his 8-month old son Kasimir, and his step-son Alex. I had not seen him on my last 2 trips back so it was great to see him this time!


I talked to Michael about the keto diet; he has been on it for a few years. I think I might try that since I seem to be at a plateau with the fat loss. He made a keto meal tonight, roasted chicken drumsticks and broiled Brussels sprouts. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of his delicious meal. Michael had also made some chocolate candy; he used very dark chocolate, butter, a sweetener called Swerve, and vanilla extract. It also was delicious! Although I did not get a photo of the candy bar, I did get you a photo of the alternative sweetener!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Peggy, Roger, Winnie, David, & Shawn!

Headed for Seattle

I wrote most of this while sitting at the airport waiting for my plane to depart for Seattle. I had been a little concerned that I would not be getting enough exercise today; I didn't need to be! The Potential Most Favorite Roommate dropped me off at the airport at 12:35 for my 2:25 flight. The 1st thing I encountered was a message saying that my flight was now delayed to 2:45, no big deal. Then the kiosk wouldn't print out my bag tag, so off I went to stand in the "Expedited Bag Tag" line, no big deal. Then the U.S. Agricultural Inspection line, still no big deal; that was a snap so I headed for the TSA line at 1:01. It was the longest TSA line that I have ever seen, so I started up the walking app to see how long the line was and how much time it would take to get through; I'm glad I did.

The line continues off to the right.

About 10 minutes into my wait a Hawaiian Airlines guy came through asking for people going to Oakland, San Fransisco, & Seattle to follow him. It was like the Pied Piper, according to the app we walked 0.48 miles to get to another TSA line at a pace of 2.9 mph; it took us 10 minutes.


Fortunately that TSA line went really fast, 52 seconds to go 0.01 miles! I think they opened up a bunch of lines because the flights we were trying to catch were supposed to be leaving in about an hour.

I also used the app to see how long it took to get to gate C-1 from TSA and how far it was. It seemed like we were going back the direction we came from, and we were, but there was no way to get in to that part of the terminal without going the way we did or coming from the other very long TSA line. It took 6:39 for us to go 0.37 miles. All total my airport escapade racked up 0.86 miles!


And it turns out I could have done some birding at the airport. There was a Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) walking around in the terminal while I was getting my bag tag. Usually I can't get within 10 feet of them when I am walking. I think this one was putting up with being around so many people because it was differently abled, its left foot had no toes on it. And there was a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) at the waiting area for our gate; they are quite versatile and will feed by artificial light from store fronts so I was not surprised that it was there.

Spotted Dove.

House Sparrow.

Since my I had an afternoon flight, I was able to do my morning walk. It was very breezy this morning; I was a little cold when I started because of the wind chill but I quickly warmed up.

Five minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Twelve minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad was sleeping in front of his breakfast, but he had already finished off half of his fried egg sandwich! He had also finished off 3/4 of his Breeze and half of his banana.

I forgot to mention on Sunday, during my morning walk, I saw a new bird that I have never seen here before. My first thought was, "Mockingbird!" My second thought immediately after that was, "Nah!" I finally got around to looking it up in the Hawai'i Audubon Society's book Hawai'i's Birds and have found that the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is, "Uncommon on all main islands." Which is probably why I haven't seen it before; I will be sure to keep an eye out for it now.

As part of my preparation for leaving, I was cleaning up all my old checklists that I had not submitted to eBird, hence I was reminded about the new bird. Unlike the Chestnut Munia (Lonchura atricapilla) that I had seen about a week earlier than the mockingbird, I did not feel as confident about my gut feeling identification because it just seemed so unlikely that I would see a mockingbird here. And the Chestnut Munia is very distinctively colored whereas the Northern Mockingbird is shades of gray; its size, shape, and behavior are what got my attention & led me to my split second identification. I intend to keep up with the checklist-a-day while in Seattle and was able to schedule a trip with my birding buddy Charlie! For the rest of the days I have scheduled myself to do a sunrise walk with Louie & will bird while he does his business.

I also had to make a quick trip to the Hawai'i Doggie Bakery for some omiyage for Louie! Hope he likes what I got for him. On my way to the doggie bakery I saw 3 Manu-o-Ku flying over my route, all headed inland; mid-morning must be when many of the adults come back from foraging to feed the chicks. It was about the same time that I saw the Manu-o-Ku on my mid-morning walks.



Sometimes when I glance at things my mind makes up its own story about things. I thought this was the Ninja Market!


Hawaiian Airlines has made a point of supporting the use of the Hawaiian language. Their safety info videos are now closed captioned in both English & Hawaiian!

(Screen shot from Hawaiian Airlines safety video.)

Lunch was a Pesto chicken Sandwich, Hawaiian potato chips, and Chocolate covered macadamia nut candy. I couldn't taste the basil at all but I ate it anyway. The steward filled up my water bottle during the first beverage service.


At the Seattle end of things it was a little better since there really was not waiting in lines. It took 6 minutes to go the 0.21 mile to baggage claim because a portion of it is in the underground shuttle.


Picking up the rental car was also easy. And since I go with Alamo all the time, I got a free upgrade! The car told me the outside temperature was 38 degrees F! At one point I passed through an area where the temperature had dropped to 37 F and it gave me a low outside temperature warning!


Once I got to Mary Ellen's house she made me a little snack before bedtime! Louie also got a snack, he liked the Sweet Potato biscuits I got for him!



I like to weigh myself before I go on a trip, then once again when I return. It helps me keep track of how terrible I am at portion control when I am visiting! This morning I found out I had lost 0.9 pounds since last Friday! Winner! According to the WiiFit my ideal weight is 104.7 pounds which puts me at a BMI of 22.0. Right now I am 115.8 pounds, so I need to lose 11.1 pounds. If I feel energetic & healthy at that weight, then I'll stop there. If not, I will continue on down to 100 and see how I feel there. If I'm still not feeling it, then I'll work down to 90 and see how that feels.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Jane! And Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo #9 to Brianna & Key!

Dead Rat in the Middle of the Road, Part 2

WARNING: Gory photo at the end of this paragraph! As I was approaching the bus shelter towards the end of my walk, Beam was walking towards me carrying Kira, who kept saying, "Mouse, mouse." So I asked Beam if she was talking about the rat; Beam said, "Yes". I asked if it was dead; it was. This time it was very dead. It chose the wrong place to fall asleep!


I drove up Lurline this morning looking for the Manu-o-Ku but didn't see it. I realized while driving up Lurline that this route also allowed me to look for the rat at the bus stop; though I didn't see it there this morning. I think I would have seen it since it was fairly close to the edge of the grass; I certainly should have seen it when I walked by the first time. Based on that, I think it was flattened sometime between about 6:50 and 7:15; it certainly looks fresh enough in the photo. (It was in the lane for cars coming up from Sierra, so I did not run over it.)

The morning walk was nice today; dry but with a nice breeze to keep things cool. I saw Kavita on Maunalani Circle. Later on Sierra I caught up with Steph; she had forgotten her visor this morning. I told her I saw her yesterday as she was headed back to her house; she had decided she didn't need to walk in the rain so she went back and did errands instead! Later I saw Suzette as she was starting her walk for the morning; I found out today that she has been to Kohala and hiked Pololu Valley!

Eleven minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Five minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

I misspoke about seeing the Manu-o-Ku yesterday. I had said it, "veered to the east & started heading up to the top of Maunalani Heights." What is more accurate is that it veered to the east where I lost sight of it behind a bunch of trees and assumed it started heading up to the top of Maunalani Heights. Once it went behind the trees I really have no idea where it went; it could have immediately gone in to a tree to its nest. On my walk this morning I started looking more closely at trees I passed upslope of where I lost sight of the bird, assessing whether they might be a good nesting tree. There are a lot that are potential nest trees, including a few near where the Manu-o-Ku veered out of my sight. The hunt for the nest tree is on!

Dad only had one bite of his fried egg sandwich and drank all of his Breeze; they trimmed the crust off his sandwich today. CNA Sharmaine said the night shift told her he had a restless night; no wonder he was asleep when I got here. He slept through until lunch.

The mid-morning walk was pleasant with nice breezes cooling me down under a sunny sky. I didn't see any regulars but I did get another chance to look at the unfortunate rat; it is close to the edge of the pavement and has not been run over a lot.

Not quite sure what these fledglings are.

While I was doing my cool down stretches on the 2nd floor landing I saw a Manu-o-Ku fly by! No, not over the parking lot, but over the area near Lurline where I had seen it the last 2 days. From my angle it appeared to fly over Jimmy's house as it headed upslope, but then I lost it behind the shower tree that is in the parking lot. I had 5 minutes I could spare before needing to head in to get ready to help prepare Dad for his lunch; it did not return before I needed to leave. If I were on the 3rd floor I would have had a better chance of seeing which tree it was headed for; I will have to move my cool down stretches to the 3rd floor landing!

Jimmy's house has the light blue roof; the tree to the left kept me from seeing exactly where the Manu-o-Ku was headed.

Lunch today was Pork adobo, Steamed rice, Succotash, Garden salad, Chilled diced pears, and Chicken noodle soup. I got Dad up for lunch but he just slept through it.


After lunch I looked at the Hui Manu-o-Ku website for their on-line map of active nests; the closest one it shows is on Waialae Avenue about 1.5 miles away. Judging by my 3 sitings, especially the one this morning, it looks like the birds are heading towards the Mau'umae Trailhead. I drew some approximate lines of where I saw the birds on the map below.

(Screen shot from GoogleMaps)

I have written about Ken before; he is the one that comes to visit Mrs. Moody whom he is not related to, he is a saint! Ken also raises exotic birds and has a great garden. As he was leaving Mrs. Moody's today I asked him if he was familiar with the Manu-o-Ku; he is! I asked because from his house he would have a good view of the flight lines I marked on the map above. I shared with him about what I have seen the last 3 days including this morning, he says he has never seen them up here but will keep an eye out for them and let me know. He said it would great to find a nest up here! I agree!

On my afternoon walk I was intently looking for the Manu-o-Ku but without luck. It was a good walk in spite of not seeing the Manu-o-Ku and even though I was birding & I had to stop and wait for a dump truck with a big load to back up, I did it in 37 minutes. I even stopped to check out the rat again; later a couple of Common Mynas were sampling the road pizza as I approached!

Now a little bit more flattened.

Common Mynas sampling the road pizza.

For my afternoon cool down stretches I went up to the 3rd floor landing. If I had been there after my mid-morning walk I would have had a much better idea where the Manu-o-Ku went. I could see most of the trees up to the top of the ridge! I can see Ken's house, he's got a great view of the area where I saw the Manu-o-Ku flying through this morning.


After I finished my afternoon walk I went to Kelly's and pruned back a dead frond on the invasive Australian fern and the frond with the mature sori that I was going to remove earlier; I also removed the stubs of 2 broken fronds. There are 5 new fronds unfurling to fill in the vacant spaces; there will be 10 healthy fronds when they are fully opened. Hopefully, when I return we can get together with his yard guy and finally remove it and plant the replacement hāpuʻu and the palapalai.


Dinner tonight was Crab cakes, Wild rice pilaf, sauteed spinach, Vanilla caramel cake, and Potato bacon soup.


Kai IMed me earlier today, he had forgotten to pass on a request for macadamia nuts for Michael; fortunately for him I had already planned on doing a final omiyage run to Don Quijote this evening. I haven't been able to find a couple things on sale so I will have to resort to full price! The other thing I am doing tonight is charging up the electronics, specifically the hotspot. I charged the batteries for the Mobile Warming battery-heated vest last night. This is the vest I got for Mom because she was always feeling cold. I had one like this when I was doing field work; I used it almost every day and finally wore it out!

My suitcase with random omiyage.

Omiyage for specific people.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Glenda and Leah!

More Karma Credits!

I waited in the car this morning for about 5 minutes before the rain slowed down to a drizzle; my walk started a little later than I usually do. It drizzled for much of my walk but three times it got heavier so I took shelter; the 1st time at Ken's, the next 2 times at the only covered bus shelters on my walking route! I did see Steph on my way up, but she was actually walking back to her house so I did not see her later. Today was gray bin pick-up day; because of the precipitation I closed bin lids and did 61 of them! I did not see the rat or the Manu-o-Ku on this walk; but to be fair to them, they were on my mid-morning walk yesterday not the early morning (sunrise) walk.

Seven minutes before sunrise in the parking lot waiting for it to stop raining.

Four minutes before sunrise on Maunalani & lightly drizzling.

Twenty minutes after sunrise on Sierra. It had actually stopped drizzling but I forgot to wipe off the lens.

Karma credits waiting to be collected!

There was a great rainbow as I was walking in to Maunalani. I took a photo and sent it to Czar for the newsletter.

The rainbow ends at the front door to Maunalani.

I have changed my drive up to Maunalani; I am now taking Lurline instead of Sierra. Since that is the section of my walk that I have seen the Manu-o-Ku it might be because there is a nest tree in the area; by coming up just before sunrise I might see it leaving the tree! But it could also be showing up in this area because it likes the wind pattern along that side of the hill; I'll have to pay more attention when I see it to see if I can figure out what is going on with the wind at the time. I'm not sure if I should go down Lurline when I leave; I can't see as much of the sky as I can when I am going uphill. (Sorry can't show you photos of the difference since I am driving and there is a bus that comes down that narrow street.)

Dad was asleep in front of his breakfast as usual. He ended up not eating a thing and just drinking his Breeze supplement. Then he went back to sleep.

My mid-morning walk was dry and productive! At first it seemed like it was trying to rain; I could feel a few sprinkles but it quickly dried up. On my first pass by the bus stop I did not see the rat though I might not have looked exactly where I ultimately did find it. As I was coming up Lurline at the end of my walk the angle I approach the bus stop is different, so it may have made it easier to spot the rat. This time it appeared to be asleep; I took a bunch of photos. Then I poked it with a little stick; it woke up! But it stayed in the same spot, then fell asleep again. My first thought was that it might have been poisoned so it was in the midst of dying; I decided I needed to do the afternoon walk even though Curtis is still under the weather & won't be here this evening. After getting a really good look at it and photos, I now think it might actually be a black rat (Rattus rattus). (The link has a good comparison between the black rat & the brown rat.) I also saw a broken branch that was not there during my morning walk.

Here's what the rat looked like as I approached it.

I was standing behind green bag yesterday, aiming camera to left towards shelter. Rat is in corner of larger brown patch.

This is what it looked like immediately after I poked it with a stick.

In much less than a minute it went back to sleep.

This branch wasn't broken when I passed by during my morning walk.

By the way, I think I need to put my phone in a plastic bag before my next wet walk. It looks like some moisture got in to the broken LifeProof case. I should probably put the phone and case in a bag of rice when I get home tonight. This is the first time since I broke the charging door a few weeks ago that any moisture has gotten in and that includes walking in much more rain than there was this morning!

Lunch today was Chicken fettucine alfredo, Key West blend vegetables, Tossed salad, Orange pound cake, and Minestrone soup. I have decided I need to skip desserts, even the chocolate ones and cheesecake, until I get myself back down to my previous lowest weight. Dad quickly polished off his half peanut butter & jelly sandwich when he woke up; he also finished the Breeze supplement. But he didn't touch the pound cake.


Just after lunch they called a Code 500 at the 3rd floor reception. We have found out that means there is a medical emergency and they crash cart should be brought to the are. The crash cart contains a bunch of other stuff so sometimes it is not as critical as it could be. There was a Code 500 yesterday also; I never found out what it was.

My afternoon walk was also dry and productive! The rat was not at the bus stop, so I was unable to check if it died. Maybe it woke up and sauntered away. Dunno. But, I did see another Manu-o-Ku! It flew almost directly overhead as it headed up Lurline then veered to the east & started heading up to the top of Maunalani Heights! I am now more intrigued with finding out where it is going. A Manu-o-Ku would not be over land except to got to a nest site; none are known to be on Maunalani Heights. I need to see if one of the people I have met who lives up on Maunalani Circle will let me check out trees from their house; the people I am most friendly with are too low on the hill to see trees that it might be going to.


Dinner tonight was Beef broccoli, Brown rice, Vegetable of the day, Apple crisp, and Cream of vegetable soup. Dad ate about half of his half egg salad sandwich and half of his Plus supplement. He did not touch the apple crisp dessert. I decided to skip the walk after dinner; since Dad slept a lot he stayed up longer than usual; I was leaving around 8 pm and it was drizzling. The temperature was also a little cooler than usual.



I finally made my car reservations today; I was waiting to see what the weather would be like. The current 10-day forecast is not showing any snow so a regular 2-wheel drive car will be okay. Lows will be below freezing but day time highs will be mid-40's, chance of precip is 0% to 20% and it would come as rain. If it was going to snow I was going to have Kai pick me up in the trusty old Subaru and drive it around while I was there. I did some checking to see whether keeping the car for a few hours past 1 week would significantly change the cost; it did but it was slightly lower! Go figure! In Kona an extra few hours gets you a higher cost; I guess there is more of a demand for cars in Kona.

Prices for rental from 02/27 to 03/06.

Prices for rental from 02/27 to 03/05; it's a little bit more for 6 hours less!

Prices for a rental in Kona from 02/27 to 03/06.

Prices for a rental in Kona from 02/27 to 03/05; it's less for 6 hours less.

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the start of this blog! For the reason how this blog started, click here. For the very first thing I posted, click here. I hope you have enjoyed these last 3 years of my ramblings! Let me know in the Comments what you have liked about this blog and where I can improve. Mahalo!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Paul, Greg, & cousin Justine!