Birding began for me as a way to get away from everyday life and find peace in nature. It was a very spontaneous thing, grabbing my Canon G20 and running down to the town park or some nearby state park I knew nothing about. There was no research. No real planning. Just write down the directions on a piece of paper and go. Wander around some paths, take video of dragonflies, butterflies, interesting looking plants, and all the birds I could see. Go home and use the (now sadly defunct) whatbird filters to guide me on birds I wasn't familiar with. I suppose that's when I first felt stressed from birding, being unable to ID a female duck here and a juvenile sparrow there. But from that stress came the satisfaction to figure out a tricky ID and grow with experience. Of course, with every year I birded, the more serious it became. I put more thought into where I went, when I went, etc.
Good and bad. It's good to learn new skills. I still love and appreciate nature--the rabbits in my yard, the geese down at the park, the bears and birds in Alaska--but birding has become much more a process, a more scientific or mathematical thing. It was bound to happen. I have a bit of an obsession with checklists, spreadsheets and documentation. My main concern with all of this is rendering my time out in nature as a couple of numbers and digitized images, and this ties in perfectly with my fifth day in Maui.
Friday August 9th, I woke up and walked down to the Waihe'e Coastal Dunes Refuge. Most of the walk was on the shoulder of Hawaii Route 340. I reached the entrance to the refuge a little after 8 o'clock and started taking pictures.
I walked a little of the shoreline, hoping to spot a Wandering Tattler among the sand and rocks, but wouldn't have any luck. My other big goal for the refuge was Indian Peafowl. I walked a while out in the hot sun, seeing plenty of birds, but neither a Tattler nor Peafowl was to be seen. But when I moved onto the main trail which worked through a more wooded bit of the refuge, I heard the very obvious 'ee-yaw! ee-yaw!' call of a peacock. I stopped, looked around, hoping to see one of the large birds emerge from the trees to cross the trail--nope.
I continued on the trail and might have stepped onto a side trail which continued along the island shore, and after a while I came across this little tunnel.
Stepping through it was the best decision I made all trip. On the other side was the outlet of the Waihe'e River where dozens of Rock Pigeons were bathing, Night-Herons were fishing, and a few other birds would touch down for a sip of fresh water.
I took a while here to put down my camera and unwind. To relax. To enjoy the sunshine, the ocean breeze, the sound of the waves hitting the rocks, the sight of the pigeons curling through the air to land, the awesomely refreshing coolness of the water, and the peacefulness. I don't know how long I sat there. Thirty minutes? An hour? It was the most cleansing moment I've felt for a while. The trip up to this moment had been awesome. But this moment was beautiful, and I felt so, so happy. Everything just clicked. It was a great reminder to put everything aside and enjoy--and the fact that me, the birds, the bugs, and the little fish had this gorgeous little spot to ourselves made it that much better.
I let my feet dry off before slipping my socks and shoes back on, and then started back on the trail. After maybe a minute of walking, a side-by-side (guessing volunteers/field researchers?) passed by. Once I got back onto the refuge's main loop, I explored the shoreside a while, making another scan for Tattlers without any luck, then headed back into the shade of the wooded side.
Back under the trees, I encountered two unfortunate things of the island. The first were mosquitoes, Tiger Mosquitoes to be exact. Mosquitoes in Hawaii are a serious problem, least of all to people. They have introduced avian malaria to the endemic native birds of the island and are essentially wiping out these fragile species. Scientists are working to combat the issue with an interesting method. Hopefully it works in the end, before it's too late for more of Hawaii's most unique birds.
After the mosquitoes, I saw this small mammal I had only caught a glimpse of that morning.
The Mongoose is a cute little creature but ferocious to other small animals and a negative on Hawaii's biodiversity. Sugarcane farmers shipped them to Hawaii to control accidentally introduced rats. Well, needless to say, they've affected native animal populations much more than the rats. Nice.
The last stretch of trail would yield me two other lifers, neither native to the island (Maui really is a case study in invasiveness and naturalization). First would be a glimpse of a White-rumped Shama leaping between a few branches and flashing its white underside before disappearing into the trees.
And then, after hearing a peacock again, straining my eyes through all the trees and underbrush, I came across the perpetrator in the most blatant of spots.
After the long, hot walk back to the hostel, I found some of my food was missing from the kitchen (my fault) and made a run for the nearby market for some more noodles. As I'd been doing, I grabbed the beanbag chair in the chilling area, went through the day's photos, made my checklist for eBird, and relaxed before dinner. I made my noodles and ordered ferry tickets for a mini-trip to the island of Lanai, then did dishes and chatted with some of the other people.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the trip came after dinner. On Friday nights, the hostel has a keg party. Honestly, I never liked the whole drinking/party culture. I've never liked the taste of beer or mixed drinks. I don't like being around drunk people. And, within my small social spheres, I know way more people who have died or been affected by alcoholism than I should.
Well, just when I had finished doing my dishes, I was tagged into a drinking game and honestly just thought to myself, what the hell. Fittingly, the spot I took landed me on the long end of a waterfall drink, and so my first 'sip' of alcohol in a few years would be half a cup. Then it was my turn to draw a card. The one I drew was to either pass an ice cube back and forth with the person next to me or drink. I grabbed an ice cube from the keg, and we ended up sending the ice cube all the way around the circle before it fell to the ground. It was decided 'melted.' The game was pretty 'racy,' and most others chose to take a drink, and eventually the game sorta disintegrated into conversations and multiple games.
To exercise my newfound liveliness, I grabbed my phone and found a quiet spot in the neighborhood to call my best friend for a chat. We talked a good while, catching up, ranting and rambling, and when it was time to say our goodnights, I headed back to the hostel for a bit of giant Jenga and hanging out before bedtime.
What a wonderfully weird day.
