This spotted dove was posing on a wall of one of the many single lane bridges on the road to Hana, on Maui’s North Shore. They are very common on Maui, along with the smaller zebra doves. Often seen feeding on the roads causing approaching traffic to slow down because they are pretty slow in flying off .

Haleakala is the world’s largest dormant volcano, having last erupted in the 1790’s. Its crater has many cinder cones. Many trails lead from the summit and various locations around the rim of Haleakala into the crater and a number of cabins (which must be pre-booked) provide hikers (who have to be very well prepared for all fast changing weather conditions) with overnight shelter as many trails are many miles long. Not only do the weather conditions change minute by minute but also the scenery from inside the crater. Its spectacular.

I’ve just completed Novembers Full Moon Crater hike which took us 2 days to complete. The first day was a clear blue day, a little chilly at the start, but perfect once down below the summit on our decent into the crater down the sliding sands trail. The second day it rained virtually non stop. But having the correct clothing and rain gear meant both days were great fun and enjoyed by us all. Most of the photos though were taken on the first day, because it was too wet too even get the camera out of the bag on the second day.

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I’d never heard of a REVERSE sunset not to mention seen a reverse sunset with the rising Full moon. The first photo above is exactly that. Its when the sunset colours are seen in the East as well as the West.

A few days in France, while visiting Saint Aubin Sur Mer gave me good reason to stroll to the beach and check out the tides. The differences between the low and high tides are pretty dramatic even on a beautiful September’s day.

It was a beautiful day today, and there were no clouds on the West Maui Mountains all morning, which is quite unusual. The surf was big again, and lots of surfers were out surfing the waves in Hookipa Bay, and the birds were chirping all around me as I wandered around. Spring is definitely in the air.

Java Sparrows and their young in the Bamboo, waiting for me to get out the way so they fly across to the deck for their last feed of the day.

       View across Turtle Bay yesterday morning.

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And more Java Sparrows waiting very patiently for their last feed before flying of to roost somewhere on Maui’s North Shore..  [View More Maui Birds]

The Java sparrow checked out my storage jar and tried quite hard to figure out how to get at those yummy looking seeds inside. He circled it about 3 times before giving up, and decided to go pester the red crested cardinal feeding at the full bowl. Both birds gave way to the Red Cardinal…  who tucked in..

I’ve been putting a bowl of seed out onto the deck every day, and over the last couple of weeks, lots of birds have been discovering it. Its getting a little busy up here now. Visitors to the bowl include a family of Java Sparrows (a parent is pictured here), a pair of Red crested Cardinals, 3 Red Cardinals (two males and one female), the odd brave House Finch and a daring pair of Minor Birds. The Java sparrows are getting very tame, and aren’t even disturbed from their bowl of seed when I go outside to take photos of them. 

I’m waiting for the Red Crested Cardinals to get a little more used to me, so I can blog about them too.

Its busy in the garden this time of year, the badgers come visiting every night, and the kingfishers are challenging each other battling to claim their territory before the winter months arrive. The Bees are busy feeding and the ducks are splashing (as ducks do) in the water, cooling off on a hot late August day. AND the robins are moulting after a long and very busy breeding season.

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When the kingfishers in my back garden become territorial, and the weather is like it is today, then I just have to sit in my back garden (very patiently) and wait for them to come. And if I am lucky, like I was today I can get them to sit on a perch (that I placed in the water) right in front of me..

Kingfishers are  very territorial, and as they compete for their fishing territory they still need to feed and catch fish. Usually they announce their arrival as they fly on to their next fishing perch, but today they were flying silently, perhaps trying to avoid their rivals.

The kingfisher that perched in front of my today is an adult male  – you can tell its adult by the red legs, and that it is male  by the all black beak (the females lower mandible is red )

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I Checked out the field again, where I took yesterdays photos of the Stone Curlews, and just as I approached it a flock of 8 got Stone curlews too flight, calling out as they went. I counted another 5 that didn’t  fly off, and they were even closer to the road than yesterday and seemed pretty relaxed with my presence.. So I got a little closer,  tucked in behind a stone wall (a common sight on Fuerteventura’s landscape)  again and took these photos. All photos taken on Canon EOS 40D wth a 400mm Zoom lens, zoomed in all the way. I should buy myself an extender one of these days…

I have uploaded a few more photos into the Fuerteventura Wildlife Gallery, from where you can view the images as a slideshow.

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Stone Curlews in Fuerteventura! Always hard to spot, but a family (I counted eight in one go) took flight from a rocky field when startled by a dog who spotted them from a distance and mistook them possibly for chipmunks and began to give chase. When the dog saw flying chipmunks he gave up the chase straight away. No chance!! AND far too hot to run anyway. .

The Stone Curlews took flight from the dog, and landed again almost straight away, obviously not too alarmed  by the dog once they saw what it was. They began to group together and then slowly made their way closer.

Hiding behind one of the many stone walls, I slowly made my way closer and closer, snapping away. I think they were aware I was there but didn’t seem all that bothered by me as long as I made my way slowly and quietly. Eventually though I got that little bit too close and my feet made a little noise on the stony ground and they took flight, again just a short one. But just a little too far for my lens.

Like I said, Stone Curlews are hard to spot in the one above… very will camouflaged and only best spotted while they are moving. the moment they become stationary, the become virtually invisible.