Throwback Thursday:Honolulu’s Gone To The Birds

This is the first post in a new series that adopts the monicker of “Throwback Thursday” (#TBT). Throwback Thursday is for posts of a reflective nature, where a topic from the Hawaii Files Archive site will be re-posted here. Other posts for Throwback Thursday will be new content with a historical subject matter and will include a short story, photographs or a video.

First up from an original blog a post in 2007 in the category of “Urban Wildlife” come the birds.

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The Hawaii Files Archive: November 13, 2007

Hawaii has gone to the birds. Actually it always has. Since getting a long 70 – 300 mm tele-zoom lens for my Canon, I’ve been looking for some time and a place to take bird photos. In Honolulu, there are not too many good places to take bird photos beyond the usual pesky pigeons and common doves. Of course anywhere there is grass offers opportunities for bird shots. So yesterday afternoon I roamed the empty Iolani Palace Grounds and State Capitol area in search of birds and other widllife. Lucked out in a fairly short time, and later moved on to Kakaako Waterfront Park.

The top photo was taken at Kakaako Waterfront Park. I waited for about 15 minutes while this elusive little bird hopped around in the thick brush at the top of the park’s observation hill. It was a little hard to follow and keep the camera in auto-focus. I shifted down to manual focus. Patience and burst mode paid off when this little guy, a bird called the Japanese White Eye or Mejiro finally surfaced on the top of the tangled bush.

Cattle Egret at Kakaako Waterfront Park.

The Kolea travel from thousands of miles north of Hawaii to spend the winter months here. This bird is also known as the Pacific Golden Plover. Photo taken near the Hawaii State Capitol lawn.

The Mynah Bird, an import from India is common to Hawaii. They can be found just about anywhere. Get a group of these birds together, you will end up with quite a cackle of noisy critters.

More bird shots can be found on my Flickr page as well as this informative page of common Hawaii birds. All photos appearing on this page are posted on Flickr and are copyright to Melvin Ah Ching Productions.