April 7, 2018—Keauhou, HI—very frustrating morning. I did the entire blog on the Blogger page and suddenly it disappeared.  I had saved what work I had done but couldn’t find it, so here we go again.  However, this time I am doing in it MS Word and will copy and paste to the blog page.

I’m trying to get over my frustration as I set here on our lanai.  This morning we woke to a light rain and it is supposed to last throughout today and tomorrow.  Rain on this west side of the island is not as common as on the eastern Hilo side where it is much more like a rainforest.  The Kailua-Kona region is in the rain shadow of the extinct volcano Hualalai, thus their rainfall totals are much lower than those of the other side of the island.

On Thursday, April 5, we spent the morning and early afternoon doing some personal shopping before heading to Home Depot to purchase new outdoor blinds for our lanai.  The blinds currently in use are very old and need replacing.  As we entered the store a dining room set caught Deb’s eye.  We have been looking to replace the old one currently in the condo.  This is really a patio dining set but we believe it will look great in our place.  In addition to being new, it will offer seating for 6 instead of the current table which can only seats 4.  While at Home Depot we checked on what was available to 

 

refinish a fiberglass shower pan.  The one in our unit needs some tinder loving care.  We did find a fiberglass paint that will work and after applying the first of two coats we are extremely pleased with the results.  We also purchase a kit to refurbish the tub in the master bedroom.

On Friday we opted to do some scouting for the upcoming birding expedition.  We left the house about 7:15.   We headed up Kamehemeha III Road and in less than a mile we pulled into the scenic outlook which overlooks the area.  That is where I took the panorama picture attached here.  The was a beautiful, clear morning so it worked out well.

Today we were heading to a Hawaii Birding Trail hotspot, Pu’u Wa’awa’a Halapepe (good luck with this pronunciation).  The traffic at this time of day is terrible and we decided quickly that any of our birding trips in this direction would have to begin long before 7 am.  We traveled up Highway 190 to the birding site entrance (didn’t want to re-write the above again).  We have been here on a previous trip but spent very little time, so we wanted to spend the morning exploring the area.  At the entrance we opted to take the right fork and proceeded up the road.  A short distance up the road we got out to look around and were met with a very loud and strange call.  After the bird flushed I knew it was a francolin but was not sure which of the three found here.  We searched and searched but could never get an eye on the bird.  All around we could hear Saffron Finch and Yellow-breasted Canary’s singing.  We even had a couple of Hawaiian Goose (locally know as Nene) flyover. 

Hawaiian Goose

As we continued up the road we continued to hear that strange call mentioned before.  Once again we got out of the vehicle.  This time we tried a tape to attract what we had since determined was a Black Francolin.  There were at least two calling but we could get neither to show itself.  Finally, at a distance I saw one at the edge of the road but it quickly ran into the bush as a car approached.  There had been a steady line of cars coming up this road.  We soon learned they were on their way to native plant society meeting.  Since it was by invitation only, we were not able to attend.  In addition to the francolin, there were numerous Cattle Egrets and Pacific Golden Plover seen in the adjacent field. 

Up ahead we passed through a cattle guard and soon learned it was a private road and ranch.  However, while there we were able to see a male turkey strutting to attract one of the three females present.  From what we observed he was not successful.

Wild Turkey

As we headed back down toward the entrance we stopped to take pictures of two trees in bloom.  The first has a beautiful purple flower shaped like a trumpet.  This is the jacaranda tree (mimosifolia).  It really catches your eye with its striking beauty.

Jacaranda Tree

The other flowering tree turned out to be a Spray-of-Gold.  

This tree sports many yellow flowers.

Spray-of-Gold

Our final bird sightings of the day were a Kalij Pheasant with a bad foot and a Erkel’s Francolin.

Kalij Pheasant

Erkle's Francolin

On our return home the party was over and it was time to go to work.  In the afternoon I put the first coat of paint on the shower pan and then painted the three new doors we had installed when we were here in September.  That was enough for one day.