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!