Red-Crested Cardinal (Video and Photos)

The Red-crested Cardinal, or Brazil Cardinal, was first introduced to Hawaii around 1930 from South America. It is native to Southern Brazil, Northern Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.  Personally, I think it is a more striking bird than the solid red Northern Cardinal of the mainland USA (which has also been introduced to Hawaii).   But the Brazilian Cardinal is in reality not closely related to the true cardinals, but instead is a member of the tanager family.  Below are more of my photos of this beautiful bird.

I definitely intend to paint from the bottom photo of the Red-crested Cardinal with the coconut.  He was at Bellows Beach on Oahu and was quite content pecking away at whatever tidbits were in the coconut shell.  

Here is a video (not mine) that you might enjoy of these birds on the island of Kauai :

The brown-headed "Cardinals" in the video are juvenile birds.   The adult birds are about 7.5 inches in length and the sexes are similar.   They feed on seeds and insects, as well as fruit. 

Sometimes I wish there were more time in a day so I could paint everything I photograph !   But I enjoy photography almost as much as my time spent painting.   I hope you enjoy these photographs as well. 

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.

Nene - Hawaii's State Bird

The Nene is the state bird of Hawaii.  It is found only in the Hawaiian Islands and is on the endangered list. Most of my photos shown below were taken at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Kaua'i  .  These birds are use to people and so photographing them is relatively easy.   They are closely related to the Brant and Canadian Goose.

Below is a photo I took of "teenage" Nene at the Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge.  I have not been fortunate enough to capture shots of tiny baby Nene  but hope to do that one day.

So far this is the only painting I have done of the Nene, and I plan to do more in the future.   They are rather inspiring birds to try to paint.

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