Meet Hahai's Kittens

I made most of the gender determinations this morning, but the photos are from previous days; I still do not have a phone. Hahai was the 1st of the cats to give birth on April 21st; she was also the 1st one of the moms that I was able to consistently pet. I originally thought it was because she had a bad case of ear mites; scratching the back of her ear was the gateway to being able to touch more of her. Then, I thought she was sticking around & letting me pet her because she was so hungry; she is the smallest cat with the earliest litter. Therefore, I thought, the oldest & largest kittens so she needed more food. Initially, I thought she had 3 kittens, but I have since found out she actually has 5 kittens! No wonder she is so hungry!

There are only 2 kittens nursing in this photo.

The 1st kitten I was able to definitely associate with Hahai was a tuxedo kitten with white tips on its front paws & socks on its rear paws; it also had a white spot on its nose. After some observation, I have named that kitten Pōloli, which means hungry in Hawaiian. And Pōloli certainly is hungry! He was the 1st of the kittens to come to the food dish.

Pōloli.

The 2nd kitten is a gray mackerel tabby with white tips on its front paws & white socks on its rear paws. This kitten would hiss at any of the other adults trying to move in on the food bowl when the kittens were eating. I named him Ho'okoa which means brave. He has continued to show his bravery by coming up to the food bowl when I am still close by & actually allowing me to pet him. I have also been able to reach out & add more food to the bowl without him running away like the other kittens do.

Hoʻokoa.

The next kitten I initially heard as she meowed out of sight as Hahai was walking by. When she 1st jumped out I thought she was another tuxedo because she was so dark. But she is a very dark calico, almost all black but with white tips on her front paws & white socks on her back paws. She also has two lighter orange spots over her eyes near her eyebrows. She is noticeably smaller than the other 2 kittens; the runt of the litter I thought since I had only seen these 3 on the 1st day. I named her Huali'i, the runt.

Hualiʻi.

The next day another kitten appeared & was nursing off of Hahai! I watched to see if any of the other moms was around & perhaps it had wandered over to nurse on Hahai, but no one else was around. Kitten #4 is an orange mackerel tabby with white tips on its front paws & white socks on its back paws; it has no white markings on its face. He is noticeably larger than Hual'i, about the size of Pōloli. Because he seemed shy I named him Hilahila.

Hilahila.

Then a day later another kitten was nursing on Hahai! Again I checked to see if other moms were around & again there were none. This last kitten is another tuxedo with white tips on its front paws & white socks on its back paws; it has no marks on its face. I named this secretive kitten 'Ōhuna.

ʻŌhuna.

My 1st task this morning, after feeding the cats, was picking ʻohiʻa ʻai & thinning the green ones. I gave Dane 4.75 pounds of ripe ʻohiʻa ʻai. I had 5 pounds of green ones that I picked in order to thin the bunches; I hope it gives larger & more consistent sizes of future ʻohiʻa ʻai that I will be selling to Jenevie at Kohala Grown Market. I will be making green ʻohiʻa ʻai pickles with these.

I spent the morning at Hawai'i Wildlife Center; it was a slow morning since all of the Nene are no longer in the isolation cages indoors. And only 3 are left in the outdoor flight pens. There are also only 2 Manu-o-Kū that are too young to be out in the flight pen. I hosed down the Nene poop in the flight cage, rinsed out the dirty linens, & started a load of laundry. I also spent some time talking to intern Madison; today is her last day of an 8-week internship. I was gone for nearly all the time she was here!

I left a little early from HWC so I could take a shower before going to help Dane with another school tour at Lapakahi State Historical Park. Today it was a very large high school group from San Antonio, TX. They are in a special week long cultural learning class at Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy. Students in this program come to Lapakahi every year (except during COVID).

I checked the mail today. No phone. I hope it comes in tomorrow, otherwise I am without a phone over the weekend.

This evening I spent about an hour putting up more chicken wire; then ran out of the galvanized wire that I was using to secure the chicken wire to the existing hog wire fence. I did about 30 more feet tonight; I have about another 60 more feet to cover the fence along the front of the yard. Then I will have to go back & remove the white plastic pieces along about 30 feet of the side yard & replace it with chicken wire. I did find that the piglets got in last night; all the ʻohiʻa ʻai that was on the ground last night were gone in the morning. But none of them came during the day while I was gone; ʻohiʻa ʻai were all over the ground when I got home. I left them to see if the piglets find their way around the latest portion of chicken wire that I have installed. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Winifred, Pete, & Stephanie! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo makahiki ʻumi kumamālua e Brenda & Melanie! (Today I sent people e-mail greetings rather than texts since I still have no phone.)