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Ah Hawaii, land of beautiful beaches, surfing, warm weather, and unique birds. Because of its distance to the mainland, Hawaii is home to over 60 species of endemic birds. Few are as unique (or rare) as the Nene , or Hawaiian Goose , Hawaii’s state bird. Nenes can only be found in Hawaii, and used to be plentiful.
The survival of songbirds depends in part upon eliminating illegal hunting. That means passing over the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East, where you’re liable to get shot, trapped, or otherwise hunted. Take Hawaii, for example. Thanks to a little human intervention, the future looks much brighter for Millerbirds.
There is the flightless Atitlán Giant Grebe of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, whose habitat was destroyed by a combination of human incursion and earthquake, but whose DNA lives on in hybrids that fly. And, then there are the extinct birds of Hawaii, four of which are represented here— Kaua‘i ‘O‘o, `O`u, Po?ouli,
By weird things I don’t mean human weird things, like for example wasting their time in wild places looking for unusual feathered animals and ticking them off a list, but things that fall outside of their usual repertoire of normal behaviour. It is easy to forget sometimes that birds can do weird things.
On my first visit to the island a few years ago I even found one hunting for sandhoppers and other assorted treats in the washed up seaweed on the beach. There are also a number of Takahe , one of which, named Greg, has learnt that humans equal food, and will hang around the day visitors in the hope of a snack.
The Blue Whistling Thrush is presumably named for its loud human-like whistling, and possibly for being blue. The male Grey Peacock-Pheasant looks quite attractive, though most human males would rightfully shudder to wear a shirt covered in purplish dots. The White-cheeked Partridge is classified as Near Threatened. A worrying trend.
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