STAY AT HOME - KAUAI

YARD BIRDS (not the band)

We are blessed to wake up to the songs of the Shama Thrush that has chosen our yard as his territory (actually the 3-4 yards that meet at the back of our house).  Year round, he starts at dawn and we never mind being awakened. 

Dawn song

White Rump Shama Thrush

June is still spring on Kauai and all the birds are in stages of nesting or the young fledging.  A couple weeks ago we started hearing a wispy single note whistle.  It has gotten louder and is incessant morning ‘til night.  We knew from prior years it was a young Shama wanting to eat.  I spent one Saturday stalking him.

Whistling for a bite

            Carnivores, the adult male is very attentive to yard work anytime, where a bug might be disturbed.  And he really likes the compost bin when we turn the kitchen waste in with the pitchfork.  He shows up as soon as we take the lid off.  So, this Dad, being a good Dad, tries to teach how easy it is to find bugs and worms in the bin, turning his head to hear them before the grab.

Like this?

            Two weeks later, digging a hole for a new plant, they showed up, as expected.  I opened the bin, too, and much to my surprise over the next half hour I discovered there wasn’t one chick, but three.  No wonder the whistle was non-stop! It continues, now, charming as heck.  It is fun to watch their progress: the tails are longer, they fly better and farther, and now chase each other. 

The third little guy was on the ground, being very timid. Their tails grow fast.

            A further surprise was this juvenile Melodious Thrush.  Considered common, we’ve only had visits from them a couple times a year and this is the first young one ever.  I think the Shama chases everyone out.  Anyway, this pop-in visit made my day and the Shama was too busy with his kids to notice.

            Thrushes are not the only entertainers.  The two varieties of cardinals here plus the house sparrows all have chicks.  The young cardinals chirp instead of the distress whistle.  Watching them, they follow the parents and shimmy with their wings, just in case anyone forgot they are hungry. 

Northern Cardinal with chick

Adult Brazilian Cardinals (red heads) have split the kid (brown heads) duty here

Adult attending a demanding juvenile 

Feeding

            Not quite in our yard but on the nearby golf course, many of the native geese stop off to graze between their refuge territories in Kilauea and Hanalei.  They have one visitor, long past quarantine, that has become part of the gaggle, neither shunned nor as alpha.  When we still had human tourists, one referred to the critter as an albino Nene.  Gotta love it.

Nene and the odd Snow Goose

PADDLING

            Gil had pretty much switched to one-man canoe paddling the last couple years.  For ocean work, he has a carbon outrigger, plus regular use of a friend’s that handles waves differently. 

Scorpius left, Ares right  

His other passion – the yard with newly weeded banana patch

In the winter, he has a south and east side network of guys that shuttle boats and trucks so they paddle one way.  Location and start times are based on winds.  With the restrictions, shuttling became more challenging.  Now he finds himself in the back of a pick-up with the shuttle angels.

            He had an exciting day recently where the waves were good sized outside the landing beach; one peeled him off his canoe.  The jerk from it released his leash and the boat went in without him (friends caught it safely).  A wind surfer came by and took his paddle in, then came back for him.  Gil was hauled in behind the wind surfer, pretty waterlogged and happy.

He uses a rudderless V1 Tahitian outrigger on the river, where all the steering is done with the paddle.

HANALEI RIVER

            I, on the other hand, still have my old heavy fiberglass Naiʻa (almost 30 pounds compared with under 20 pounds for a carbon boat).  So far this year I’ve only done the river a handful of times.  It is peaceful, and between practicing techniques, counting my strokes in French (though the trip to Paris isn’t going to happen), and scanning for wildlife, it is a contemplative endeavor.  I’m rereading Siddhartha’s experience of enlightenment by river gazing.

Taro field release

Flowing with flowers

Log jam (with a few raindrops)

A few more raindrops

Hanalei bridge (the trees behind are the favored roosting site for night herons

Black Crowned Night Heron 

Collecting nesting material, actually yanking branches off

Red Eared Sliders – fresh water turtles trying to warm in the sun. 

I’ve seen as many as eight on a log; only the most mature stay put as I go by, the others slide into the water for safety.

Feral bananas

Orphans

Hawaiian Moorhen  (with red face shield)

Probably same hen with at least two little chicks almost hidden in grass at left

YARD FLORA

            After I work out (paddling, living room aerobics, my elliptical) I can unlax in our little back lanai spa since Gil cleaned it up (decommissioned since last vacation off island) and got it up to speed for me. 

            Between fixing paddles and canoes for other people, Gil enjoys puzzling out and working with mechanical stuff.  If not on the water, he is in the yard or garage.  He borrowed a trenching machine to correct drainage from the house during rain, but particularly flooding storms.  He spent more than a week repairing the machine he borrowed (new carburetor, fuel line, etc, etc) then got down to the work itself.  Everybody wins.

We’ve been here long enough that the orchids in the trees just do their own thing; many pleasant surprises grace us.  As does other miscellaneous foliage. 

Hawaiian Wedding Flower (Stephanotis)

This vine took more than ten years to bloom the first time. It's mingled into the back hedge.  Smells divine.

Gardenia (you know da kine)

 

Coconut Orchid blooms in April, goes 6-8 weeks and smells sooo good

Spider Orchids 

Definitely not on a schedule I’m aware of. Boom!  There they are.

Antler Orchids 

Once again this Kauai big game tickles me silly

This is Gil’s baby over on the side of the garage. 

I replanted the water garden in the back last November to withstand shade.  It included one lily, called eyelash.  Surprisingly, it has produced two different flowers, both so delicate and sweet.  They don’t even last a day.

Unknown beauty

Eyelash Lily (about the diameter of a quarter)

We’ve added many native plants as well and they have their own rhythm.  The hibiscus plants have all been a real joy.  Typically gangly plants, natives have small blossoms that come and go in a day.   Four varieties are in bloom here now, two white and two red.  Not as dramatic as hybrids, giving these wild guys a home in the suburbs is rewarding.

Our immaculate hibiscus, Gil reverts to nun thoughts.

(H. arnottianus immaculatus)  Endemic to Molokai.

Kokiʻo kʻeo kʻeo (H. waimeae) is white with a red center and stamen and is the only one to have a scent; it will become a tree.  Endemic to Kauai

Kokiʻo ʻula is very red, endemic to all Hawaiian islands. Not fully opened.

H. clayi (also called Kokiʻo ʻula) Endemic to Kauai.

ʻOhiʻa Lehua, The blossom is above the ʻuki ʻuki with its blue berries.

    Red ʻOhiʻa is most common on Kauai but the yellow variety is very special to me.  Long before the pandemic, we had Rapid Ohia Death (ROD) happening, a new fungal disease killing the majestic trees on every island.

COPING IN COVID TIMES

I believe coping with the pandemic is about awareness, personal behavior, and respect and empathy for humanity.  I've carried rubbing alcohol and a stiff brush in my car for over a year so I could clean my shoes or boots in order to not spread ROD on this island.  Cleaning stations were placed at public gardens to do the same.  Now, we have to be aware of what we touch, stay clean at all times and masked around other folks. Nothing comes into our house without being sprayed and/or wiped down including bags, boxes, mail, receipts, etc.  Produce is really the only exception.  It isn't hard, just a new habit.

 I wipe my car handles, steering wheel, gear shift, purse and credit card, after every store.  If wipes aren't available, I use my own homemade sanitizer.  (Two thirds 70% alcohol and one third aloe vera with a few drops of lavender.)  In March, a friend made masks for her friends and a philanthropic group gave surgical masks out at the beach.  We were delivered both cloth and surgical masks with our fresh organic produce (given to the Kupuna/elderly* community.)  I made more masks with pockets for filters so friends that needed to leave the island could double their protection in flight and in airports. 

*It took about a week to accept being elderly, what the?  Me?

We donʻt know where this is going and for how long we will be impacted by the impartial virus.  PROTECTING EACH OTHER ISN’T HARD!  It is just new behavior to reflect our respect for what the entire world is going through.  I’m not afraid of dying, I am pissed at the churlish attitudes of many who claim their personal rights let them stomp on others. 

I have to say Kauaiʻs stats are due to the swift decisive action of our Mayor.  He is still doing live reports daily.  We had no new cases for ten weeks then inter-island travel was opened June 16th; two days later we had 8 new cases.  They are all  in facilities and contact tracing is seriously being done.  Including these, there have been a total of 29 cases and zero deaths as of June 23rd.

The clamor to open tourism for economic reasons is being severely weighed, it will be interesting to see what comes next.  More than half of resident households lost jobs.  State and County governments are in discussion regarding conservation measures to employ people.   We are so grateful to be here.

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL:  SPACE AND TIME

            We are undecided about travel to Colorado in August even though our cabin is pretty isolated in the mountains, it requires flights and airports and supplies once we get there.  I did cancel the trip from there on to Europe and Russia with a friend in September.  C’est la vie.

            But I have not stopped travelling and feel compelled to share with other readers.  All of these stories are greatly researched historical fiction with well-developed characters, high intrigue, and are very well told.  Of course, they all feature strong women.   I enjoyed googling myriad side-trips as I read.  

India to Japan in 1924, with Mary Russel and her elderly husband Sherlock Holmes.

Dreaming Spies by Laurie King (#13 of a very fun series)

Scotland’s Shetland Islands in the North Sea with present day DI Jimmy Perez.

Shetland crime novels by Ann Cleeves (these were also dramatized for TV)

Byzantium (present day Istanbul), in about year 1200 trailing Anna, a woman doctor posing as a eunuch in order to clandestinely practice her art. 

Sheen on Silk by Anne Perry   This is a stand-alone book but we have also read her long series featuring amnesiac detective William Monk in London, circa 1850s-60s.

In response to Andre Bocelli’s Easter (you tube) concert at the Duomo in Milan, I reread an old favorite.  Bishops, monks, curses and craftsmen, kings, swords/knights of the 1100s, tragic love stories, all to hold up Gothic cathedral design concepts of ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and stained-glass windows. 

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.  This was actually an audio book that I listened to for a week.

WATER

            Before lock-down, we did a sunset whale watch on the SW side with refuge staff and had a dark rainy day.  It was great; we’ve done it so many times in the sun.  Everything was silver. 

We saw plenty of antics by our big friends but mostly I let the camera rest.  It was just good to be out there. 

Oddly, our circuit included the same fifteen mile stretch Gil had paddled both the day before and again the day after after with his one-man gang.  Nice to see him relax!

ʻEleʻele Sunset

Just as park and beach bans were lightly loosened, this group refused to wear masks and keep to the 6’ distancing rule.

Canoe club, party on!

 

            A brief visit to Keʻe beach confirmed for me that it is still there.  Beaches were opened for responsible behavior and it was very much that; masks worn at restrooms, distancing on the beach and at the shower, the whole gamut.  PROTECTING EACH OTHER ISN’T HARD!  I did a spin around the lagoon, saw some little fishy friends and nearly got pulled out at the mouth while filming inside a huge school of akule.  My solo lunch was nice, the drive wonderful.  It seems my travel destination is about 10 miles away for now.

                                                                  ALOHA!