Birds

Aside from the white bird sitting on top of the white cow, this was the most interesting bird I saw on Hawaii.

I think it's an African Crane. It was at the Hilton Waikoloa on a small island, I imagine its wings were pinioned so it couldn't fly off the island. There were ornamental pheasants on other little islands.

My favorite birds are still the doves. On Oahu they hung around restaurants and picked up crumbs. On Hawaii I saw them mostly picking up crumbs on the beach. Someone had left this loaf of bread for them.

When they were full, one of the doves came over and perched on a rock about 3 feet from me, where she promptly fell asleep.

Bob caught one of these (he's very good at catching birds) and scratched its head for a while before he turned it loose. The bird didn't seem to mind at all. There were other birds eating the bread on the beach. Sparrows, mynahs, and this bird, which I think is a sandpiper.

I saw some interesting sparrows at the Hilton Waikoloa. The large building where the buffet breakfast was held has a very high roof, with open windows at the top. The sparrows come through those windows and land on light sconces in the dining room.

When someone leaves their table to go back through the buffet line, the sparrows sweep down, grab some crumbs, and fly back out through the windows on the roof. They often flew within inches of seated diners who didn't even notice them.