Birds in Hawaii

[canyonwalker]

Okay, no, I'm not actually caught up on writing about our visit to Hawaii 2½ weeks ago. There's one more thing I've been meaning to blog about. It's been waiting until I had time to prepare the pictures: Birds!

I've already written about all the wild chickens in Hawaii. This post is about other birds we saw, particularly two I saw on on our loop around the Windward Side.



We stopped at a beach where we saw a bunch of these little guys (and gals) hopping around in the grass. From their bright red heads, crest feathers (this bird's crest is matted down in the photo) and the shape of their beaks I figured they were some kind of cardinal. I grew up in an area where the Northern Cardinal is a backyard bird and has bright red feathers over its whole body. ...Well, at least the males do. And the shape of the beak is the same.

At the time I figured these were "Hawaiian Cardinals". After all, Hawaii is an island thousands of miles from any continental land mass. It's going to have its own distinct species of animals, right? Then later in the trip I was reading an information display at another park and learned this is called a Brazilian Cardinal. ...Well, that's an informal name, apparently. Officially it's a Red-crested Cardinal. And it's native to Argentia, Bolivia, Uruguay, and a few parts of Brazil. It was imported to Hawaii. I don't know why, though the birds seem to be doing okay here.



Speaking of imports, another bird we saw in plentiful numbers on the windward side is this Cattle Egret. I could tell right away from the shape of its body it was an egret/heron. We see egrets when we hike the various baylands near our house. This variety was shorter and stockier than what we see around the SF Bay. Was it a Hawaiian Egret, I wondered? Then I saw this....



And this...



...And I was like, "It's a Trash Heron!" 🤣 But no, it turns out it's a Cattle Egret. The bird gets its name from ranchers finding that it liked to follow their cattle around. It would eat the bugs attracted to their big, stinky bodies; it would even pick them out of their fur. Cattle ranchers then cultivated these birds as helpful partners to keep their herds healthy and brought them to Hawaii when they brought cattle here.

...And now that there aren't so many bug-infested cattle to follow around for food, apparently these birds go to the next most bug-infested place. Trash cans.

Comments

[ihavenoarms]

Nice photos

[khedron]

The cardinals are fantastic. I think I've only seen the in pictures, not IRL.

Cattle egret I have seen - but I wouldn't have expected them in Hawaii! Ahh, farming imports.

[canyonwalker]

I grew up in Virginia, where the Northern Cardinal is the state bird. Cardinals weren't exactly everywhere... it was a small moment of joy when you saw one. But as a kid I saw them several times a week thanks to our Audubon Society neighbors who set up birdfeeders in their backyard.

One of them explained to me how it takes deliberate setup to attract cardinals. They're seed-eaters, like many backyard birds, but their wide beaks mean they can't reach seeds in common feeders designed for birds with narrow beaks. That's why when I see that shape of beak I know it's a cardinal-family bird.

[khedron]

I agree, it has the cardinal look. Cardinal's also the state bird of Ohio(1), and we get plenty at our feeders just north of Columbus. Here's a photo from my in-laws place in Iowa: IMG_0584.jpg

Your Hawaii one is prettier though!

(1) about the state bird thing - every couple years I go back to this again, because it's both sarcastic and useful: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/state_bird_improvements_replace_cardinals_and_robins_with_warblers_and_hawks.html

[canyonwalker]

Haha, that's a pretty good article. They're right that state bird designations are repetitive and uncreative when states could use them to recognize birds that are unique or special to their history.

I'll note, though, that the cardinal family of birds includes quite a few different names. For example, the many kinds of tanagers, grosbeaks, and buntings are cardinals. So is the dickcissel. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_(bird) for example.

Thus the Slate article is suggesting replacing most of the Northern Cardinals with cardinals-by-another-name. There's no indication they're aware they're just swapping names.

[khedron]

Wait, whaaaaaat?

At least they're different-looking cardinals?

"As such membership of this group is not easily defined by a single or even a set of physical characteristics, but instead by molecular work." Oh, okay.

I've been lucky enough to see a rose-breasted grosbeak at my feeder a couple of times over the past 10 years. I'd call that different enough from the Northern Cardinal.

[canyonwalker]

Ah, the rose-breasted grosbeak. That and so many of the other birds are familiar (by name) from playing the game Wingspan. Have you played that game? Anyone who enjoys a backyard bird feeder really should give it a try.

[khedron]

I have heard good things about it! It seems like the sort of thing I should not get for myself, because that would deprive someone of the chance to get it for me some day. ;-) Rosebreasted grosbeak stopping by the feeder like he does once every few years. 2018.

[canyonwalker]

I know I'm responding 2 weeks after you posted this but I want to say, first off, that's a nice picture of a rose-breasted grosbeak!

Secondly, although the bird's coloration is different from a northern cardinal, you can kind of tell it's in the same family because of the shape of its beak. It's got a short/tall beak with that kind of "wry grimace" look where the upper and lower parts meet. That's the resemblance that jumps out at me right away when seeing a nice, close-up picture.

[khedron]

Thanks!

Comparing it to your Brazilian Cardinal, I can see it. They're even looking at us the same way.

[khedron]

OH, oh. I get it. I've only seen those cardinals in pictures, not cardinals in general! Sorry for the confusion.