More birds and sewing

I didn't really understand the concept of Maui being a couple of million years old, which is relatively young compared to some other land on earth, until we went to look at the lava fields.

This is not a freshly turned field waiting to be planted, it is rock hard lava stone.

Maui was created by a volcanic eruption, or two or three and originally was nothing but lava rock.  So it stands to reason that all the plants, animals, birds and fish that live here originally came from some other part of the world.  Understanding this has gone a long way toward my understanding of endemic and indigenous species of birds.  The endemic species have evolved so much more that the species is now found only here.  Indigenous species have evolved but not enough to be a totally different species than those found elsewhere.  I think I have this right.  But now on to some birds!!

 

A'eo, or Hawaiian Stilt

 

 

 

 

a Wandering Tattler

 

 

Huna Kai - a Sanderling

 

 

a Cattle Egret - these birds originally came from Africa.  That is some kind of big bug he's carrying!

 

 

a Ring Neck Duck

 

 

'Alae ke'oke'o or the Hawaiian Coot.

 

And now in sewing news.... I finished the third row of hexies that I brought with me to work on.  Here are all three rows attached together.

 

 

Next time you hear from me I'll be back in wintry Yukon....

 

Janet

A few more days in paradise

Last week we went to a very swanky restaurant called Mama's Fish House.  The food was good...

Opakapaka (blue snapper in a lemon ginger broth....

 

The company was great...

 

 

 

And the ambiance was superb... open windows looking out on the ocean...

 

 

Beautiful flowers...

 

 

And geckos and birds aplenty to watch out the windows.  Here are a pair of zebra doves who were being lovey dovey...

 

We bought a one week pass to the Maui Ocean Centre and have spent quite a bit of time there this last week.  So many fish to see and then hubby goes out snorkelling and tries to find all the ones we have seen in the ocean.  I have only been snorkelling once.  It was fun but I need time to get used to swimming in the ocean with all its currents.  Here is an octopus at the Ocean Centre who performed for me...

So funny!  And I was intrigued to see these deep water beings - I think they are a coral  - that glow in the dark.  Truly art does imitate life...

 

I'm off to enjoy today's sunshine... :)

 

Janet

 

Friday Night Sew In

 Last night was Friday Night Sew in, sponsored by the lovely Wendy at Sugarlane Designs.  I had a plan for the evening.  I wanted to get my second row for the Grandmothers Flower Garden finished so I could spend Friday evening sewing it on to my first row.  And I made it!  Here is row number two completed.  I confess that I only got this finished on Friday afternoon.  :)

 

But here it is joined on to the first row and looking great!  Unfortunately the photo flipped itself and I don't know how to get it back to a horizontal view, but you still get the idea.

 

I had two sewing cohorts this week.  Linda is making progress on her Shashiko whale.  Mama is done and the calf is started.

 

 

And our friend Pat decided she would work on a piece of Shashiko too.  Hers is a Kukui branch.   It was really difficult to get a photo that shows how rich the green background is - this one was the best but still doesn't really convey how rich and green it is.  She is using a lime green thread on it.

 

 

I hope everyone else had a successful Friday Night Sew In.  Please go to the link to see what everyone else got up to.

 

Janet

Just another day in paradise...

We have been spending lots of time at the bird sanctuary down the beach and seeing lots of birds that we haven't seen in the past.  There are only a few birds in Hawaii that are endemic (birds that evolved here and are only found here) but quite a few that are indigenous (birds that are naturally occurring here but also found elsewhere).  I don't know that I have sorted out which are which, but I know that I haven't seen many of these birds before.

 

This is a Pacific Golden Plover.  We do see this one at home, but there it is called an American Golden Plover.

 

A Ruddy Turnstone.  This bird turns over small stones to find food underneath, hence its name.  It is really funny to seeing them tossing stones over.

 

 

A Red Crested Cardinal.  This one was originally from Brazil - the bird book calls it resident, naturalized, introduced.  I guess that means it is indigenous.

 

 

The black crowned night heron is resident indigenous.  These birds are hilarious to watch.  They have long legs, as you can see, but they sit in long grasses so they look short and squat.  And they watch and wait for things to go after, mostly fish I think.  Our bird book says that they sometimes will use bread to bait fish - interesting!

 

 

These ducks are either Hawaiian ducks or hybrid mallards.  They look like mallards but have a different colour speculum - the coloured patch on the wing.  It is more green than in a mallard.

 

Here are hubby and I ready to go out walking on the beach.  :)

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!!

 

Janet





A fun day (my birthday) in Maui

Just down the beach from where we are staying there is a marshland behind the dunes.  When Maui was first being settled they put the airstrip here, but soon discovered that it was a very windy spot and not really suitable for planes landing and taking off.  Now it is a bird sanctuary, a much better use for it I think.  There has been a lot of rain this winter (or what they call winter here) and the water was high in the marsh, and was threatening the highway that runs through it.  So the other morning the environmental people were out digging a trench to drain the marsh.  Or rather this volunteer fisherman was doing most of the digging. 

Apparently his interest is in letting the small fish that have been trapped in the marsh out into the ocean, as they will attract bigger fish in to eat.  As you can see this is literally a small trench made with a hoe.  When we returned later in the day to check it out the trench looked like this.\

The water is dumping out into the ocean at a great rate!  The marsh is home to many birds and we are having a good time checking them all out.  We heard that the Hawaiian Goose, or Nene, had been sighted in the marsh.  Normally it is only found on the dormant volcano, Haleakala.  Well we were thrilled to glimpse the Nene in the marsh yesterday afternoon.

 

Other excitement from yesterday was going out whale watching.  The whales here are humpbacks who come here to give birth and to breed.  The rest of the year they live in Alaskan waters and I have seen them there, but never in the numbers that they are visible here.  My photos are rather pathetic, so I'll only show you one.  We saw a "competition" of whales.  This is when two or more males fight over a female.  Our boat got "mugged" by a competition.  Very thrilling to see these creatures so close up.

 

And the next thrilling site for yesterday was our first view of turtles through the surf.  And I got a fantastic photo!
 

That was enough excitement for one day!

 

Janet

 

A windy day in Maui

Yesterday and today have been quite windy, with wind advisories and lots of changes on the beach. 

New and interesting things to see come with the winds.  Although we have seen lots of crab holes and the occasional crab, today they are out in force, running into the surf and lounging at the top of their holes.  They were all facing toward the sun.  We couldn't decide if they were sunning themselves or tourist watching.  I didn't get a good photo - they are not easy to photograph because they are so quick.

 

For the first time we have jellyfish on the beach.  This Portugese Man of War is resting by a bottle cap to show you its size.  We don't want to step on these. 

Lots of coconuts.  If we were on a deserted island we would be breaking these open for food.  This one is resting by a crab hole.

And tons of plastic garbage.  We picked up one bag full but there is lots left for others to pick up.

Despite the wind it is really sunny and warm.  So lovely!

Janet

Friday Night With Friends

For this Friday Night With Friends I got to actually sew with a friend.  My friend Linda worked on a Shashiko kit that she bought at the local quilt store.  I resisted buying a new kit because I am still working on one of the two that I bought last time I was here.  But I'm sure we'll get back over there again. :)

Here is the beginning of Linda's Shashiko whale

 

 

I brought my hexie quilt to work on.  And I have a lot to do.  Last night I added twelve green hexies to this row.  I see I forgot to remove the paper in the centre of the left hand flower that tells me where to add the green hexies.  Oh well...

 



 

Time to start on the next row.  Although I have made the quilt five flowers across in one row and six across in the next, I think I might add one more flower width ways.  I can decide that once I have more rows together.  I certainly have enough flowers.

 

I hope you had a wonderful night of sewing. 

 

Janet



 

pictures from Maui

 
sunrise on our beach
 
 

Maui art

  bird that needs identifying

 

I'll try to post more tomorrow!!



Janet