April 4, 2018-Keauhou, HI--Deb & I arrived about 7:15, got our rental vehicle (a jeep), made a quick stop at Costco for coffee etc., and headed to Keauhou JADE (our condo) arriving there a little before 9 PM.  The 5 hour time change between Austin and Kona does require some adjustment to your body clock.  I have noticed I don't sleep well the first night, waking up at 4 AM (9AM in Austin) and being unable to get back to sleep.  At 5 AM we decided to get up and prepare coffee, sit on the lanai and listen to the early morning chorus.  Already Mina's and Zebra Doves can be heard heralding the new day.  Daylight begins a little before 6 with sunrise around 6:15 and by then there were two dozen Java Sparrows and Zebra Doves at the feeder we purchased in September.  Our neighbor below soon came out and replenished the seed in the feeder.  Java Sparrows and Zebra Dove spend the entire day at this feeder.  We frequently observed this years hatch of Java Sparrows begging their parents for food.

Java Sparrow

Meanwhile, the dozen or so Zebra Dove scoured the ground below the feeder for the seed spilled by the very greedy Java Sparrows.  This activity continues through out the day.  Occasionally a Spotted

Zebra Dove

Dove will fly in to join the group Zebras.  The ground feeders were soon joined by a pair of resident

Spotted Dove

Gray Francolins which we have seen from the lanai every time we have been here.  In fact, the resident manager of our condo informed me that this pair had raised 8 chicks on the property this spring.

Gray Francolin

Following our morning coffee from the Lanai, we finished the unpacking, straightened up the condo, dressed and headed to check out the local sewer treatment plant for birds.  We have not visited this place in our previous visits, so I contacted their office to find out the protocol for visiting.  I was advised to park at the entrance gate and walk the quarter of a mile in to the berm which we did.  There we found a nice group of birds which included Black-crowned Night-Herons, Pacific Golden Plover, Ruddy Turnstones, more Zebra Dove, a couple of Sanderling, Hawaiian Coots, a lone Northern Shouveler, and two Wandering Tattlers.  Since this was just an opportunity to check out the place I didn't take either my camera or scope.  For sure we will do so next time when the group of friends arrive next week to do some serious birding.

Following our checking out the sewer treatment we stopped by a local chocolate factory to see what it had to offer.  Needless to say the chocolate samples were great.  Definitely we will take our guest there in the future.  We did purchase two chocolate Easter eggs at sale prices before heading to Costco to do some serious shopping.  After Costco we headed back to the condo to get some rest.  Today I am still a little tired from not sleeping well the night before, so I spend the afternoon lying on the futon on the lanai and surfing the web.  I have set up Ebird alerts for the island to see what other birders are reporting and the list looks very good.  Evidently there is a Wings Birding group on the island as I recognized the name of the leader.

Later in the afternoon we observed several other species showed up.  Among them the often hated House Sparrow.  Actually this time of year, breeding season, the male is not a bad looking bird.

House Sparrow

In addition, one of my favorite species for the island showed up, Saffron Finch.  This small, bright yellow finch with a reddish head and throat joined the ground feeders.  What I have failed to note 

Saffron Finch

up to this point is the stunning fragrance of the blooming Plumeria blossoms just beyond the lanai.

 

So our first day here in paradise was one of resting, relaxing and doing a little scouting for the upcoming birding expedition.