Myna Bird Invasion - Photographs of Various Species and Video of White Myna and of Talking Myna

White Bali Myna

(Internet Photograph)

This white Bali Myna is so beautiful and it is my favorite species of Myna birds.  I have never seen one in "real life", however,   I stumbled across it by accident on the internet.  All myna (or mynah) birds belong to the starling family, particularly all those called Myna are in the Indian subcontinent.

Below is a video of this endangered bird.

Below are some of my own photographs that I took of the common myna, or Indian myna, here on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  

The common myna with the extra white plumage got my curiosity up so I tried to find information about it on the internet, to no avail.   I guess it is a rare case of too much white on this species.   At any rate, that is how I discovered the white Bali myna on the web.  In 2000 the IUCN Species Survival Commission declared the common myna one of the world's most invasive species.   I am not really fond of these birds; they are noisy and have an ugly screech.   There was one myna I enjoyed, though, not long after I moved to Hawaii.   I first lived in Makiki suburb, which was home to a myna that used to give frequent wolf whistles.   I heard it often from where I lived, and it was great to get a wolf whistle from him when I walked down the street !  <Sigh !  Big grin.>  I attended a church not too far from my apartment, and one Sunday that whistling myna was interrupting our Sunday School class so much that the preacher's wife  also interrupted the study and said something to the effect of "Who taught that bird to whistle?"  (It has been several years since that incident so I cannot remember all of her exact words.)   The windows were open in our class so we got a good earful.  :-)

Below is a video of a talking myna bird.  He rather charms me into liking him.

In Hawaii the common or Indian myna is everywhere to be found on all of the islands.  It was first introduced from India in 1865 to control the insect population.   It is about 9 inches and both the male and female look pretty much alike.   When it flies you really notice the white wing patches.

They are very social birds and travel in pairs.   They gather in large groups and roost in trees.   They breed from February to August and they raise one to three broods a year.   They lay two to five eggs in each brood.   Incubation time is over 13 days and the babies fledge  sometime  later between 29 to 35 days.

Below are some photographs from the Internet of other species of Mynas.

White-necked Myna

Brahminy Myna

Sri Lanka Hill Myna

Endangered Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle (Photographs and Video)

Hawaii Green Sea Turtle

Green turtles are found everywhere in the world, mostly in tropical waters. The "Honu", Hawaiian name for the green turtle, is distinct from other green sea turtles.  In 1978 it was put on the endangered list because people were harvesting both turtles and eggs to the point the population of these creatures was in peril.   Since then, the Hawaii green sea turtles have made sort of a come back.  

The Honu nest, for the most part, in the French Frigate Shoals of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.  This is a protected area and  is largely free of any predators to the eggs or the babies.  The females deposit eggs at night and up to seven clutches are deposited over the course of a week or so.  The usual amount, however, is 2 or 3 clutches in that time frame.   For each clutch, they lay around 100 eggs.   These gentle turtles only breed every 2 or 3 years, and sometimes not that often.

Juvenile green sea turtles have been known to eat cuttlefish, sponges, seaweed, and jellyfish.  But their main diet is vegetarian.  Adult Hawaiian green sea turtles are known to frequent near shore waters in order to find food as well as to come ashore to bask on the beach.  All of my photographs here I took at Laniakea Beach on Oahu's North Shore.   Sometimes there are several turtles at one time resting and basking on that beautiful beach, also called "Turtle Beach".   This beach is about an hour drive from Waikiki and is 1.5 miles from the charming town of Haleiwa, as you head towards famous Waimea Bay.   Green turtles come to Laniakea Beach to feed on seaweed and algae.  

The above two photographs I took of Laniakea Beach.   That sign on the beach in the photo directly above has information on it about the Honu.   There are volunteers at this beach that are helpful and informative when it comes to the turtles.   They monitor the turtles closely and know each one by name.  They also place red tape around the basking turtles to keep people from getting too close to them.

In my photo above, you can see how close the newly arrived  turtles  are to people before the volunteers rope off the area to keep people at a safe distance.

Below is a short video showing the Honu swimming and eating.

Below is a painting I completed sometime back and prints of it are available at   Fine Art America

"Ain't She Pretty"

24" x 24" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

Available

The artist in me took liberties with color here;  I made the Hawaiian green sea turtle greener than it actually appears in real life.   That was my intention.  

When you make a trip to Oahu, be sure to bring your camera and take pictures of the Honu at Laniakea Beach.   Summertime is the best time to find them basking there, as the waters are not as turbulent and the waves are not as high as at other times of the year.

Red Vented Bulbul - Drama on Oahu, Hawaii

Red Vented Bulbul in Palm Tree

Photograph by Carol Reynolds

Red Vented Bulbuls (pycnonotas cafer) are quite common on the island of Oahu.  They are considered a harmful invasive species as they wreck havoc on gardens and fruits and causes over $300,000 damage annually to orchids here.    There are several orchid growers on this island.   Red vented Bulbuls eat other things besides flowers and flower buds; they also eat fruit and vegetables as well as insects and even small lizards.   I took the photograph above from off my patio (they are called lanai here in Hawaii).   There is a big drama going on above in the palm trees just beyond my lanai.   See photo below.

Anyone familiar with palm trees knows that when they have orange and/or brown "leaves" that that means it is dying and will soon fall off the tree.   Can you see the bulbul in this tree?  A pair has built a nest on this dying palm leaf.   It was green when they began the nest.    Look below.

See the nest ?   At this point I believe there are only eggs in the nest, because the male and female take turns sitting on it and there is no constant back and forth like there would  be if the eggs had hatched and they were feeding babies.   

I wish I could do something to help.   I called the number for a bird/animal rescue place, and the woman said nature would just have to take its course,   These were probably young parents and they will have to learn the hard way to build their nest somewhere else.   Nesting season lasts a long time and soon they will have a new nest and new eggs. 

The photograph directly above gives you a good look at the Red Vented Bulbul's nice crest.

I took all the above photos this morning while on my lanai.   Later in this post is a video by someone else from You Tube, showing baby bulbuls being fed by the parents.  I wanted to give you a little more information about this aggressive bird first.     They are just a tad over 8 inches in size, and so far are found only on Oahu and the big island of Hawaii.  They are an alien introduced species to Hawaii and were originally from tropical southern Asia, as in India and Burma and China and I believe Pakistan as well.   The male and female bulbul look alike.   

On Oahu there is also found the Red Whiskered Bulbul, which are a bit smaller and, in my opinion, a lot prettier as they are lighter in color.   

I hope, after the nest falls , that "my" bulbuls stay near my area.   I enjoy their beautiful songs and their comings and goings.   They chase smaller finches and other birds away from what they consider their territory.    

Below is a video of bulbuls,     Enjoy !

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

My Website

Hand Feeding Hummingbirds and Videos Of Hummingbirds

Hummingbird With Bluebonnets

9" x 12" oil on canvas

Black-Chinned Hummingbird with Indian Paintbrush

9" x 12" oil on canvas

Both oil paintings above of  hummingbirds and Texas wildflowers were painted when I lived in Texas several years ago and are no longer available for purchase.   Living in Hawaii, I miss the little hummingbirds as there are none to be found here.   They are found in South America and North America as they migrate.   I used to have hummingbird feeders in Texas and enjoyed watching these little feisty birds .   I never tried to hand feed them as in one of the videos below.    Check it out :

None of these 3 videos are of my own making, as you will notice if you view them.

Below is an interesting video showing 2 baby Allen's hummingbirds from birth to leaving the nest .

Below is a video of an Anna's hummingbird building a nest.   It might get boring for some people, but I found it fascinating to watch.

Hope you enjoyed these interesting videos.   A wonderful website for bird lovers is allaboutbirds.org

Be sure to check out the links there.   

I will be posting more about Hawaiian birds in the future, as well as other subjects.   The fascination of birds for me began when I was a child, and has intensified as I age.   

Feel free to comment as to what subjects you would be interested in my posting as time goes by. 

  

Thank you for visiting !

My Website

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Waikiki Banyan Trees

This photo of a banyan tree was taken at Kapiolani Park across the street from the beach at Waikiki.  This mother is taking photos of her son in the tree, which I have seen many people do of friends and family. The banyan tree is native to India and is the national tree of that country, but it is found in various parts of the world as well.    The banyan tree is also known as the "strangler fig". This tree is impressive, but it is not as large as older banyan trees which can cover a lot of ground because of their aerial prop roots which spread and spread .   Below is a shot of some of these aerial prop roots which can become indistinguishable from the main trunk over time.

This is a larger, older banyan tree than the previous photograph.   It clearly shows how thick and woody the aerial prop roots can become.   This was taken in Waikiki on the Honolulu Zoo grounds by Kapiolani Park.
I intend to create a painting from this and/or other photographs of this man and the pigeons enjoying the shade under the branches of this old tree.   One of the largest banyan trees in the USA was planted in 1873 at the Lahaina Courthouse by the harbor at Lahaina, Maui.  I have been there, but do not have photos of that particular tree, which is over 60 feet high and covers an entire city block.

Here are two banyan trees at the Honolulu Zoo ground in Waikiki.   The very first banyan tree in the USA was planted  by Thomas Edison in Fort Myers, Florida.  Edison and Henry Ford were endeavoring to find a cheaper way to produce rubber for car tires.   When first planted, it was only 4 feet tall but now it covers an acre of land.  In fact, my first time to ever see a banyan tree was in Florida around 2001 when I visited one of my granddaughters who lived there.  I did not see any more of these trees until I moved to Hawaii a few years ago.

Let me close with a beautiful rainbow shot taken at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu.

Enjoy !   Please return again soon as I will be posting more frequently in the future.   

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Black-crowned Night Heron of Hawaii

"God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest." - J. G. Holland

This adult Black-crowned Night Heron is truly in its own paradise !  This reference photo of mine was taken in Waikiki at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort where they have a variety of birds and even penguins.   

This was also taken at the Hilton resort and gives a closer view to observe the color of the feet and bill, etc., of an adult.  Their eyes are very red.   The male is usually taller than the female, about 26 inches in height with a wingspan of 45 inches.

The above two photos were taken months apart at Ala Moana Beach Park on Oahu and show young herons  not quite - but almost- in adult plumage.   Here they were feeding on minnows.   Their diet varies greatly including frogs, mice, insects, and various fish.   Sometimes they catch and eat baby and small adult birds.  

This juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron posed for me at the botanical gardens at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu.    Hawaii recognizes this heron as Indigenous, and it was first taken note of by Captain Cook in 1778 on the island of Kauai.   It is known as 'Auku'u in Hawaiian and is very similar to all Black-crowned Night Herons which breed on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

Below is a recent painting of mine.  I took the reference photograph of the heron in the tree on the island of Kauai in broad daylight.  There was no moon present.  I used a lot of artistic license in this painting.

"By The Light Of The Moon - Black-crowned Night Heron"

10" x 8" oil on museum quality gessobord

Available

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Hawaiian Red Jungle Fowl

This is a handsome fellow - Hawaiian Red Jungle Fowl - I photographed on the island of Kauai.   Most of the true red jungle fowl are found on Kauai, primarily at Koke'e State Park and Alaka'i Swamp.  They are shy birds of dense rain forests.    They were brought to Hawaii by the first Polynesians and are called "Moa" in Hawaiian.   They are not as widespread now, and many have bred with other chickens so a true red jungle fowl is hard to find.   There are some feral jungle fowl on Oahu and the other main islands.   

Sometimes it seems like there are more wild roosters and chickens on the islands than there are people !   You see them almost everywhere, and some are so use to humans that they are almost tame.   Below is a painting of mine of a not so wild rooster that I photographed  right on the beach at Hanauma Bay on Oahu.  One of his female companions thoughtfully laid an egg right in front of me while I took photos !  I am not inclined to eat their eggs, however, and they say the wild chickens themselves are pretty tough to eat cooked.   

"Hanauma Bay Resident"

12" x 16" Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

Available painting

I have only painted one red jungle fowl, and that was a miniature and can be found at my other blog by going here  .   I intend to paint more jungle fowl and other roosters in the future.