Islands, Mountains and Wetlands

Last week of July into the first week of August saw me in Hawaii being trained as an Arbinger Facilitator.  It was held at BYUH, so I took a few more pics of some of the campus birds.  I also got out on Saturday with a guide.  Great guy named Lance Tanino.  We went up high in the mountains as well as out on the ocean.  A few shots.




Red Vented Bulbul



Cattle Egret



Cinnamon Mannakin



And the female



Nutmeg Mannakin



Often seen in large flocks eating the grass seeds with the Cinnamon's.



Common Myna



High above Diamond Head, we we chasing Apapane, which unfortunately, we didn't get.  We did get some fun birds however.



Amakihi



Red Billed Leothrix



Japanese White Eye



And the largest Bee like creature I have ever seen.  This one was bigger than my thumb.  Let's make this the mystery creature for this post!

Out along the Eastern coastline of Oahu, we saw some pretty cool stuff.



A Red Footed Booby, high in a tree.



A Yellow Fronted Canary



And a Black Noddy way out over the water.

A bird which has eluded me for many years is the Red Tail Tropicbird.  Not only did I get some great shots of it flying over the water, but I got the chick in a nest in the rocks as well.





Look close to see the chick in the lower right hand corner of the cave.



The chick (as many are) seemed well fed and as big as the parents!



The Red Tail Tropicbird is really a handsome bird. 

Some birds are found right downtown Honolulu in the trees around the government buildings.



A Hawaiian Coot.  This is a fairly rare one with a red and white shield.  Most are one or the other.





The Rose Ringed Parakeets can be heard all through the parks and grounds.

Honolulu has recently adopted the White Tern (formerly called the Fairy Tern) as the "city" bird.  This bird was almost done for when a number of years back it suddenly colonized Honolulu.  It has a very strange nesting habit.  IT HAS NO NEST!  Thats right, it just lays an egg in the crook of a tree, and when the chick hatches it hangs on for dear life for all the weeks until it can fly! 



This one was born and is growing toward fledge in a tree on the busy boulevard that runs just east of the Convention Center in downtown!

Upon my return to Portland, I left almost immediately for Utah to cover some depositions, and a hearing in Park City.  One evening I decided to drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  I had heard that the hummingbirds were out.  They were, but the shots were not worth taking.  It was fun to see some of the other wildlife however!



I did keep my distance from this Cow Moose, as I knew that a Cow with one calf tended to be pretty protective, I figured there was no way I wanted to mess with her and twins!



Cute calves!

On the way down the mountain, the western sunset was really something.



It was fun to the the plane and the birds in this next shot.





I got back expecting to go birding with Greg Baker on a Pelagic trip, but the rough seas caused a cancellation.  As such Greg and I went out to Sauvies Island instead, where we got some good shots of mostly raptors.



Great Horned Owl



This one was protecting its territory from several Coopers Hawks in the area.



Coopers Hawk



The banded tail is a great identifier for these Cooper's Hawks.



It was very interesting to see this Juvenile Common Yellowthroat



And I just love the flycatcher family.  This Willow Flycatcher is really a dandy.

One of my favorite birds is the Osprey.  It is majestic, a hard worker as evidenced by it's nest and the way it fishes, and really doesn't bother anybody. 







Whew!