An Interesting Encounter

[Hotzcatz]

Aloha Carey,

Do you know any more details on the bio-diesel beef rendering plant? We do need another slaughterhouse along the coast and it sounds like an interesting (albeit messy) concept. Cows to electricity isn't a concept I've ever heard about before. Wind and photovoltaics sound a lot more "green", but if one is going to eat beef, then there will be parts left over and there is a demand for electricity, but how wierd!

Back to the bird topic - I've been seeing a lot of yellow and red colored birds who look like a cross between a sparrow and a canary. Are these escaped cage birds? Are they crosses or a separate species? They look like some sort of finch?

We keep finding Jackson's chameleons while they are trying to cross the road. They are very slow so we usually stop and help them along.

[Les C]

The yellow birds with a reddish face are most likely Saffron Finches. They are an introduced species (c. 1960's from So. America). They used to be confined to the west side but have been steadily spreading to the east side. I've seen them at Whittington Park and in Volcano.

The Jackson's Chameleon's jerky, slow gait doesn't mix well with car traffic! We often see them flattened on the roads in Volcano. My wife has helped several across the road.

I thought that the term "biodiesel" referred to vegetable sources. Didn't know it could include flesh.

I forgot completely about the beef industry on this island. Of course there would be rendering plants. I wonder what they do with their products. I hope they don't make cattle feed out of it. I hope they don't process roadkill from highway crews. They probably don't make pet food here.

Les

Edited by - Les C on 09/28/2006 19:18:21

[malolo]

Marvelous memories of our fine feathered friends, folks!
Cool to hear you share.

Me? I've always kinda got a kick out of the Kolea (Pacific Golden Plover):


.

Kolea lay claim to your lawn


Tundra-chicks fledge to glacier-melt melodies,
caribou rock-yodel, goldpanning jazz.
Jittery parents catch tradewinds in August,
abandoning keiki to stave off starvation.
Genetic legends shiver and grow.

Equinox signals start of first-journey.
Three thousand miles of three-mile-high star-steering.
Magnetic messages swirl in skulls.
Three thousand miles of wave-chasing current-watch.
Searching for something: something like this.

Swaying on stilts in southern sea salt-shower,
beaks piercing breeze as breakfast creeps by.
Autumn attire: Flightfrazzle rufflemess.
Neck-'n-neck nomads relax and regroup.

Just as the paddlers of old Hawa'iki
scanned sky for secrets, read red-cloud warnings;
just as their counterparts sailed through thunderstorms,
Kolea navigate, find a new home.


~~~~~~~
http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=120&MagazineID=6

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Edited by - malolo on 09/28/2006 21:20:39

[Carey]

Cat, the company is Hawaii Beef Processing. They are currently renovating 2 rendering facilities, but have plans for 2007 to have the bio fuel plant up.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stori...%5E1350028
Aloha, Carey