Kealia Pond
Use up that jet lag
Hawaii is a few hours west of Vancouver so
you find yourself waking up a little earlier than usual.
Sure, you can do the sleep in thing, but a lot of Hawaii is really
interesting at sunrise so why not take advantage? We had a
rental car and Kealia Pond is only a few minutes drive from our
resort so I left in the morning while everyone else was sleeping.
It's really hard to argue I'm not a
birder. As far as I can tell, when birders travel, they want
to have a few lists - what are the endemic birds (and where to see
them) and where are the birding hot spots (and what do you look
for). I didn't do a lot of research on the first - Hawaii
has lost a lot of amazing birds, but still has a lot of
treats. The second - where to the hot spots are - is easy to
work into a trip. Kealia Pond was one such hot spot and it
lists two interesting birds - the
Hawaiian Stilt
and the Hawaian Coot.
Kealia Pond makes seeing the Hawaiian Stilt easy - there are
potentially hundreds in the area and they are very easy to pick
out. Within a minute of getting out of the car, I had a
photo I was happy with. As I walked further into the
reserve, I noticed Herons - what turned out to be Night Heron's in
the trees looking for fish. Night Heron's are like an old
friend you keep bumping into - there is a reliable pair close to
where I live, but I have also see them in Taiwan and now
Hawaii. I'll be happy to see them again some day.
After a bit more searching, I did find a Hawaiian Coot.
Small black birds in the water are a little harder to spot, but we
have Coots in the lower mainland and the behaviour seemed very
familiar.
After that, it's take in the sights. I was surprised to see
the local pigeons weren't rock pigeons, but they are invasive.
Not to be outdone, but there were lots of butterflies as
well. Being in the morning, the butterflies tend to perch
for a few seconds more than they do when they are fully
warm.
A few days later we drove by and Helen wanted to walk
around. It was about 2 in the afternoon in the heat of the
day and there was nothing to see - almost nothing in the ponds and
the insects were moving impossibly fast. It's funny how much
a place changes over the course of a day.
Tags: Hawaii(5), bird(2), boardwalk(1), reflection(1), bird in flight(1), butterfly(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > Maui > Kealia Pond
From: John Harvey Photo > Trips out of the Country > Maui > Kealia Pond
Last Modified Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at 00:12:02 Edit
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