Tiny birdies

Hawaii has so many different kinds of birds! On my way home from the grocery store yesterday, I stopped to take a photo of a flock of tiny birds in the lawn. At first, it just looks like the lawn is moving -- you can't see the individual birds unless you focus.

They fly away if you get too close -- unlike many birds here. These birds were fairly close to me but I still had the zoom focused in all the way because they are so small.

This website is by a UH professor. He shows all the birds that are everywhere here. His camera is much better than mine!

UH Campus Birds Link

I think the tiny birdies I was trying to catch are called a Common Waxbill.

Lighthouse walk

We went for a walk to the Makapu'u Lighthouse today with some friends. It is supposed to be a good place to see whales.

The walkway is paved and at a fairly easy slope. Many people bring pets. We went with my friend, Sandra and her children. While the little one rode in a stroller, Ian walked clear to the top and back down.


From the top, there is a great view of Waimanalo Bay.

The weather was perfect and we had a great walk -- but we did not see any whales.

This is more information about the lighthouse.

Link

Kawainui Swamp

We took an afternoon walk along the dam in Kailua. It is a low barrier with a sidewalk that runs alongside the Kawainui Swamp.

Marsh birds

One of the birds in the Hamakua Marsh is a small black and white bird called a Silt. A recent TV news story said the bird population is up, which is good because it is endangered.
KGMB9 News Story Link
I saw several of the little birdies on a walk last weekend. They are small and quick so it is hard to get close enough to take pictures of them, but I got some from the sidewalk.

Coming and going

From my earliest post, you know how dismayed I was to find no Target on the island. There are a couple of K-Marts, but none near me. I had to find new places to buy the little stuff it takes to set up an apartment. Now, just as I've pretty much wrapped up purchasing, Target is coming to Hawaii! A job fair at the Convention Center was closed early because so many people showed up to apply for jobs.

There have been several closing recently. It's hard to tell how much is due to the economic mess but tourism is really down. Since this is our first full year here, I don't know how much slower it is than the usual off-season. The restaurants are nearly empty at happy hour and there's plenty of room on the beach.

The saddest departure was our dear brew pub. Brew Moon closed suddenly last week. By coincidence, Rick was there the last evening it was open, although we didn't know it then.

Open for business

Having grown up in Kansas, where enclosures are necessary to avoid wind and dust in the summer, wind and snow in the winter, it amuses me to see how Hawaii treats the outdoors as another living space. When many businesses are open, they're literally open to the world.

At UH, the Campus Center has wide open spaces as doorways on each side of the building.
Hallways are open to the air.
In the middle there is a seating area for study or watching TV.

Birds walk through along side the students.
Other buildings are similar. The philosophy department is in Sakamaki, which has a bamboo grove in the center courtyard.

My afternoon philosophy seminars are 2 1/2 hours each.
On our break, I can see Diamond Head from the balcony outside the classroom.

Chinese Mariners

After the movies yesterday, we went for a walk along the beach at the Ala Moana Beach Park.

We saw across the water that the Chinese boat seemed to have people going on and off of it, so we walked across the bridge to the marina.The boat is wooden, made of materials and techniques from long ago.There are bamboo poles tied together and the sail is hand-made.The captain and his crew are trying to recreate an ancient Chinese trade route to the west coast of America. They made it from China to Washington and California and are now on the return trip. The captain was talking to boat visitors yesterday. The crew said he rarely leads the tours himself.They sailed from San Francisco to San Diego and then here. It took 23 days to cross this part of the Pacific from San Diego to Hawaii.They are here until February, waiting for favorable winds to continue to Taiwan.
One recent invention is solar panels that store enough power to run the lights on either side of the boat and some instruments.The captain said they know of some skills the ancient sailors had that are now lost.
Rick was an interested participant in the tour.
The captain and sailors are giving a talk on campus this week that we plan to attend.

"'Reviving Seafaring Glory: The Grand Voyage of the Princess Taiping' A Special Session with the Sailors of a 54-Foot Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 C.E.) Replica Wooden Junk Sailing Across the Pacific Ocean, from San Diego to Hong Kong"

It was fun to see the boat first.
This is an article from the Honolulu newspaper.

Star-Bulletin Link

North Shore waves

Rick checked out the waves on the North Shore this week while Cindy was in class. He got some great shots of the winter weather.