Honolulu & Diamond Head, Hawaii

 

Squeezed in between high volcanic peaks and the sea, Honolulu is an ugly high rise sprawl. There isn't much open space as every bit of land is vital there, with no room for gardens or parks, so therefore is of little interest to the birder. Waikiki, a tourist suburb of Honolulu, is home to giant high rise hotels, cities unto themselves, is a bit leafier, but again not of much interest to this blog.

Waikiki

 



I would have two stays in Honolulu, sandwiching a stay in Big Island. I would stay at two different apartments. The first had some views whilst the second was hemmed in by surrounding buildings, so much so there was little light even during the day.
I would visit Honolulu and Waikiki many times to do many non-birding things, there are some nice museums, a few old colonial buildings, lots of restaurants, and the beaches are world famous.

 ZEBRA DOVES - these were tiny little pigeons, they are very tame
 

From the apartment we had rented, in suburban Honolulu, my window overlooked a small back yard with a single tree in it. From here I actually saw quite a lot of birds. These birds were of the common variety, a template as such, as these birds were the species I would see over again throughout Hawaii.
RED CRESTED CARDINAL (S. America)
RED VENTED BULBUL (India)
SPOTTED DOVE (S.E Asia)
JAVA SPARROW (S.E Asia)
ZEBRA DOVE. (Australia)
MYNAH BIRDS (India) were the most common birds on the islands, found everywhere, widely kept as a pet, many seemed to have escaped into the wild. They are dark birds with distinctive white wing bars displayed in flight.

RED VENTED BULBUL - you can just make out the patch of red near its tail

 



Although Honolulu was fairly urban it wasn't too difficult to get out of the city and see the surrounding countryside.

Diamond Head

Diamond Head

 



The peaks of Diamond Head are a colossal feature of this area of Hawaii, rising high above Honolulu and Waikiki. Its a massive volcanic crater with a fairly steep climb up its sides to reach a summit giving great views of the metropolis below.

View from Diamond Head, looking towards Waikiki with Honolulu further behind

 

 



The car park is located in the crater and from here we would climb up its side. There were loads and loads of ZEBRA DOVES feeding round the car park with smaller numbers of SPOTTED DOVES. The climb up the hill was through rough grassland with scattered scrub, where I saw some JAVAN SPARROWS, BULBULS and CARDINALS. The weather was hot and that probably stopped many birds from being active, as it was fairly quiet.

YELLOW FRONTED CANARY

I got my first glimpse of a MONGOOSE one that nonchalantly fed on something on the footpath inbetween the groups of people walking, it just had no fear of humans at all.
The views from the crater peaks were amazing and were worth the climb themselves. A SWALLOWTAIL butterfly flitted around in the bushes, beautiful but still an introductee to the island.
This was the first day in Honolulu, where we would just explore the nearby features. Later on we would venture out further to see more of the island. Check out further posts for more info.