Birds at Waikoloa

On our last day at Waikaloa we walked around photographing some of the things which had caught our eye during our stay.  

These beautiful birds had perches in various parts of the resort and different ones were to be found each day.

They were reasonably tame and people had their photos taken holding them.  One bird had its own particular party trick when held..

In terms of wild birds, apart from the very noisy mynah birds and very cheeky sparrows, there were very few to be seen around the resort.

We saw the occasional waterbird such as this Rail and, when the grass was being watered, tiny yellow birds appeared and collected insects..

There was also a tiny cardinal bird..

This is the yellow-billed cardinal, smaller than the cardinals that we see in Virginia.

We did wonder whether the presence of these quick little creatures might have something to do with the numbers of small native birds..

This common mongoose was to be seen everywhere.  It is not native to Hawaii but was imported to keep down rats which threatened the sugar plantations in their heyday.  Unfortunately the particular problem rats were a nocturnal species whilst the mongoose hunt by day so they simply became a further 'pest'.