Two beautiful little yellow birds just flew in to our yard to eat on the new grass clippings. They are about 3 inches high, yellow with slightly brown wings and looks similar to the sparrow. Does anyone know the proper name of this unique bird or what they might be eating in my yard? Also we drove saddle during the lightning storm and could not help but notice at least 8 owls during the drive. What kind of owls would these be? And was this normal or maybe they were just as un easy about the lightning as I was?. Thank you, some of the bird life here is just amazing and is like no other place in America.
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A finch, perhaps? We have quite a few of those (and other colors, too; peach, light green, etc.) in our trees and yard every morning. So beautiful!
As to the pueo, lucky you get to see so many. Guiding you home safely in the storm. Actually, maybe all of the activity in the area (military, etc.) added to the storm prompted the pueo to move to safer ground. Still, lucky you got to see so many! JMO.
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Did they look like
this?
The
Saffron Finch; been in Kona for awhile, but with all the vog, overdevelopment, traffic jams, and Maui like residents; they seem to be migrating to Puna.
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I have seen those a few times around here. VERY pretty birds.
Yes Snorkle, That is a great picture of the bird we are seeing a bit more often. These birds we saw this morning hung out 10 - 15 minutes feeding on either seed left over from the cut grass or tiny insects from the composting grass. My 3 year old was able to get quite close a few times, so they were not as scared as other birds. The color of this bird (yellow) and the incredible (red) cardinals colors are great to see together as well. What kind of trees do these types of birds like to nest or live in?. Please tell me the Albesia.
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Saffron finches are seen most often on lawns when Ive seen them on this side, very colorful a bright yellow with a hint of orange color on head... Ive seen them a few times in the McDonalds area of Kea'au on the lawns, also more often in Hilo.
Other yellow birds we have are the Yellow Fronted Canary (it has more gray mixed in and a "X" on its face when it looks directly at you) Ive seen only one ever at my place in Hawaiian Acres.
In Puna we also have 3 kine of Cardinals, the Northern Cardinal (female and male are dimorphic), Yellow Billed Cardinal (no crest and has yellow bill/legs), Red Crested Cardinal (crest with gray bill/legs)
PS. there is a good 36 minute video you can rent at the Hilo Library called "Hawai'i Birds" ... that doesnt have any spoken words just good video of each native and non-native species, their calls, and a background of light Hawaiian music... I have it on my computer now, very helpful in IDing birds.
aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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like Gypsy/Opihikao noted.... the endemic Pueo are seen often sitting on the fence posts on Saddle Rd. or dead in the road itself (they are attracted to headlights at dusk and dawn and get hit by cars) they are a diurnal ground nesting species found in grasslands usually. If you see or hear an owl at night in Puna it will be the Barn Owl
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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Saffron Finches come to my feeders, always in pairs except when they have young trailing along, but they are greatly outnumbered by
Java Sparrows.
Hey Bananahead, do you think that the owls on saddle have enough trees? They seem to like to sit on those posts and wires but during the lightning storm maybe they would feel a bit uncomfortable on the miles of fence. They were some what scared looking and all flying not sitting, I thought there was a message out there for me but I am not that special. The owl is special, and may need more attention during storms like that, kind of like my dog who gets dis-oriented during lightning.
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Hate to be the bearer of bad new but the Fish and Wildlife service is planning on exterminating the barn owls.
It seems instead of eating mice and rats,the owls have developed a taste for native Hawaiian birds.
More here :
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections...-owls.html
