April 25, 2018--Keauhou, HI--Since the group of birders left last Friday, Deb and I have been just relaxing and enjoying our lanai until yesterday.  On the spur of the moment we decided to take a trip out to the Palila Trail up Mona Kea.  There we would be seeking the Palila which I have referred to in a previous blog.  We were not disappointed!  We found our bird busily feeding on the green seed pods

Palila

Palila

of the Mamane Tree which supplies 90% of their diet.  While watching the Palila we also had the chance to actually see a Japanese Bush Warbler, unfortunately after I realized what I was seeing he flew off before I could snap a shot.  This small bird has a brown back and cream to slightly yellowish under belly and a distinct white/gray eyeline.  They are extremely hard to see on most occasions but this one was very visible in the top of a Mamane Tree.  While there we had an Hawaii Elepaio fly in for a moment.  They are dark backed birds that show white in the tail when they fly.  We could also hear the Red-billed Leiothrix calling, but as usual this shy species never showed itself for a picture.  

Following our time on the  PalilaTrail we decided to head farther up the road to check it out.  We drove another 2 miles and saw several more Palila and Hawaii Amakihi.  After we turned around

Hawaii Amakihi

we headed back down and stopped along the way because we could hear a Black Francolin calling.  This bird has avoided me taking a picture of him since November 2017 and that was not a good picture.  While trying to coax this bird up to where we could see it, we heard the calls of numerous California Quail who were also very shy so we could only hear them.  Then we heard a very strange call which we have since determined was that of a Erkel's Francolin.  Disappointed that our Black Francolin would not come out of the tall grass we headed back to the condo.  

Determined to find a Black Francolin Deb made a decision to turn into the Honua'ula Forest Reserve which we have visited several times.  Here we have heard them many times but like our other experiences with this species they failed to appear.   As we slowly drove up the road I looked to my right and saw a large bird standing in a dead ohia tree.  We stopped and sure enough we got our bird.

Black Francolin

Very satisfied we called it a day and headed back to Costco to purchase our 10 bags of Royal Kona Vanilla/Macadamia coffee to take home with us.  Yes ten bags to last us until we return in late October of this year.