Common Waxbills at Kona on the Big Island of Hawai'i

It's a week of ugly and tragic news. I'm not ignoring it, I'm following closely. But I'm also choosing to find some small bit of beauty in the midst of tragedy.  Common Waxbills (Estrilda astrild) are native to Africa south of the Sahara Desert, but they were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in fairly recent time, the 1970s. They were first noted on Oahu, but showed up in the Kona area on the Big Island only in 2002 or so. They feed mainly on grass seeds.

We saw these Waxbills at Maka'eo Jogging/Walking Path at the Old Airport Park just north of Kona on the Big Island. A small bit of beauty.

A Reasonably Polite Invader in Hawai'i: The Zebra Dove

There is a cooing sound that starts the day in the lowland towns  of the Hawaiian Islands. It doesn't take long to identify the singer: it's the Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata). Even if one misses their morning song, they'll make themselves known as you try eating in a park or outside diner. They are one of the most common birds seen in Hawai'i.

The Zebra Dove arrived at the islands in 1922 in a shipment from Singapore. They are native over a wide swath of southeast Asia. They quickly established populations on all the islands almost to the point a being a nuisance (but most of them have been polite to me!).

Photo by Mrs. Geotripper

As almost always happens, I took practically no pictures of the single most common bird I saw during my recent trip! The first two pictures are from an earlier journey on Oahu, the third is from Mrs. Geotripper from the Kona area, and the fourth (below) is a shot I took at Kona as well.