On my way up to Maunalani this morning I saw Ona jogging up the stretch of the circle just before the upper parking lot entrance! As I was walking I saw Lorraine as she walked up Sierra by the park; then passed her again as she was on her way down Lurline. I checked the hāpuʻu; it was damp which is good. While I was doing my cool down stretches I saw Ken walk by with his dogs.
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| Three minutes before sunrise on Maunalani. |
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| Sixteen minutes after sunrise on Sierra. |
During my walk I also saw Caroline & Olive; she told me since we talked a couple weeks ago she has been noticing the Kōlea more. I told her they are starting to molt into their breeding plumage and will be starting their migration to the Arctic in late April; she was impressed they flew that far. She asked if there were any other interesting birds I saw, so I told her about the Manu-o-Kū and the possible nest up here. She said she is going to have to check the Internet for more information. I will have to tell her about this year's Manu-o-Kū Festival.
I also saw the last remains of the rat. Only a part of its tail was left; I looked for the rest of it on the road but could not find it. Perhaps a dog or other scavenger took it. Or maybe someone came along and threw it out. (I did not see it in the rubbish bin at the bus stop.)
Dad was awake when I got in. Today he ate about 3/4 of his fried egg sandwich, 1/4 of his papaya, and 1/2 of his apple banana; I marked him down as having eaten 50%. He drank all 240 ml of his Breeze supplement.
On my mid-morning walk I found a flattened ʻEhakō (Spotted Dove, Streptopelia chinensis); only one wing was sticking up and flapping in the wind. I checked the hāpuʻu again, it was still damp. The real test will be how long it stays damp on a sunnier day than today has been.
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| I lifted the wing & saw more identifying features to know it is an ʻEhakō. I do not include dead birds on checklist. |
Chip was out working on a project so I stopped to talk to him. I asked if he knew what a Manu-o-Kū was, he did not so I showed him some photos. I told him what I had been seeing, he will keep an eye out for them; his house is right on the circle near the area where I saw the 3 birds the other day. He also told me about seeing some terns on Wake Island and about some contractors he met there who had a tern that they raised and that came back every night & roosted at their apartment!
Lunch today was Steak & mushroom sauce, Steamed rice, Vegetable of the day, Tossed salad, Boston cream cake, and Tomato bisque soup. I double checked to make sure I was looking at the menu for the correct day!
I skipped my afternoon walk so that I could get home early enough to catch a ride to dinner with The Roommates. But that's probably okay; it got really windy after lunch. The gusts were blowing the windows closed. I made a quick check on the hāpuʻu before I left; it was not as damp as I would like it. I will need to adjust the watering schedule; shorter duration but more frequently should achieve what I would like to see for it.
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| Photopoint 1. Yes, I know, it doesn't look any different than yesterday. Sometimes science is like that. |
The Potential Most Favorite Roommate's birthday was the day after I left, so we did the 'family' dinner celebration tonight. (He had a celebration with friends on his actual birthday.) The Potential Most Favorite Roommate wanted spaghetti for dinner so that's what was served, along with garlic bread, vegetable platter, sweet rolls, and grilled Romaine with balsamic vinegar & Parmesan cheese. For dessert The Potential Most Favorite Roommate requested apple crisp so that's what he got along with a very special, never to be seen again Totoro-themed cake.
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| The Bakery That Shall Be Unnamed said they can't do this again since it is a copyrighted image. |
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| The grilled Romaine is in front. Yummy! |
On the way to dinner we saw a car outfitted with what looked like GPS equipment. We think it was a Google or similar outfit gathering data for an app of some sort. After we got there, we went over to Debbie's house, her gift to The Potential Most Favorite Roommate was a bunch of succulents of his choice; she has a lot of succulents!
After dinner some of us went to see Captain Marvel. I enjoyed it; I like alternate reality themes & I also like that the protagonist is a strong female. However, it has been hinted that I should see the other movies in the Avenger series so that I can more fully understand the conclusion should I decide to see the last one in the series. I especially liked Goose, the alternate reality cat. Spoiler Alert: Like Orion in Men in Black, Goose plays an important role. I also liked that Stan Lee had a cameo role.
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| (From Captain Marvel website) |
I forgot to mention that something I had ordered for my trip about 2 weeks before I left arrived yesterday. It is an adjustable sling made to hang off of the tray table to support your feet. For people like me who's lower leg bones are shorter than average, I can't set my feet on the floor while still sitting on the seat with my lower back properly supported. When my legs dangle for the whole trip it makes my knees very sore. If I slouch to touch the floor my lower back get sore. The sling would alleviate these problems. Too bad it arrived way too late for this trip, but I will have it for future trips.
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| It was shipped from China. |
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| I will provide a photo of it in use later. |
I had mentioned earlier that eBird gives me the option of having the Hawaiian name of the birds listed along with the common and scientific names. I can view it in the on-line list of birds I have seen. Of the 55 species I have seen so far, here are the birds that have a Hawaiian name; I had seen the pintail in Washington but it is also occasionally seen here. They are listed in taxonomic order; by the way, just because it has a Hawaiian name does not mean that it is a native species. As a bonus when I did a cut & paste it automatically included the eBird link which has photos, videos, sounds, identification info, and statistics.
Koloa mapu - Northern Pintail - Anas acuta
Manu nūnū - Rock Pigeon - Columba livia
ʻEhakō - Spotted Dove - Streptopelia chinensis
Kōlea - Pacific Golden-Plover - Pluvialis fulva
Manu o Kū - White Tern - Gygis alba
Koaʻe kea - White-tailed Tropicbird - Phaethon lepturus
Pihaʻekelo - Common Myna - Acridotheres tristis
Manu ʻai mīkana - House Finch - Haemorhous mexicanus
Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Joan, JJ, & Laurie!
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