Hawaii

Hi Everyone, I had a family holiday in Hawaii, on O’ahu and The Big Island, during January and I made the most of every birding opportunity that fitted in with our plans. My favourite birding experience was seeing Bristle-thighed Curlew in Northeast O’ahu. The James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge was closed to the public, for the 2013-14 season, so I walked through the Kahuka Golf Course to the back boundary of the refuge. I encountered 31 Curlew most of which were on fences or fence posts, and five were on headstones of an old Japanese cemetery. I was soaked by a heavy shower and dried off before seeking shelter from a storm under the edge of an old building, near the golf club. I had distant views of Hawaiian Gallinule and Northern Pintail in the refuge, and a range of introduced birds during my walk in and out. I had much better views of Northern Pintail later at Hilo, on The Big Island. Introduced birds are present everywhere and much easier to find than endemic and resident birds, although I still found reasonable numbers of the latter. The few seabirds I saw were chance encounters, on a couple of marine mammal trips we did, which didnt go very far offshore. Pacific Golden Plover, which take a bit of work to find in Tasmania, were on just about every patch of grass in the places we visited. Seeing White Tern fly in through the buildings on Waikiki Beach while watching my son surfing was special. Here is the link to my photos from the trip. http://birdsnmore.smugmug.com/Hawaii-January-2014 Cheers Rob Hamilton Margate, Tasmania _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org