Waimea Canyon Start Park

 Waimea Canyon is one of our "everyone must see this" visits for all visitors. The view from the top down to the sea is one of those views available only on the occasion of a clear day. We were in luck on this trip.

Poipu Beach

 I have no idea how such decisions are made, but Poipu Beach is supposedly the best beach in the United States. I like it because it has great picnic tables under cover and turtles.

Since I am commenting on best of xx, the iPhone camera is hard to beat when it comes to actually taking photos. I have several thousand dollars invested in cameras and lenses, but if I had to take a photo I would likely opt for my iPhone and perhaps a tripod. There are so many options and great automatic features. The panorama capability works well and I used it frequently for vistas I want to save. It is nearly always available when the time to take a photo presents itself. 

Here are some Poipu turtle photos with one panorama.

Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge

We visit the Kilauea Point Refuge with each set of folks who visit us. It gives a chance to use our National Parks admit these old folks card and to try to take photos of the birds. I bring my camera with the telephoto lens. Trying to capture a usable image while birds are in flight is difficult. First you have to find them through the view finder and then try to capture an image while following. Focus in a challenge. My camera will try to focus automatically but that takes a second. If you focus on the horizon and then try to get a photo it works reasonable well if the bird is far away. If you have ever tried pass shooting ducks, you might have a feel for what skills are involved. The refuge folks would likely be shocked that I used this comparison. 

Great Frigate Bird

Red Footed Booby

Hillside with nesting birds - this is as close as visitors are allowed

Special fencing surrounding the refuge with a fine mesh to prevent cats and hogs from getting at the nesting birds. The fence is dug into the ground and the surrounding vegetation must constantly be cut to prevent the use of the vegetation to scale the fence (see previous posts about biomass).

Sign that must be funny to birders

Does Hawaii have seasons

I have spent most of my life living in the North of the U.S. and with the North you get seasons. The weather here does change, a lot, but the temperature range is small. I consulted the National Weather Service on the matter, and the official claim is that Hawaii has two seasons - winter and summer. Winter lasts from October to April and the rest is summer.

I started thinking about this topic because of Plumeria. I think of Plumeria as the flower commonly used in leis. The connection with seasons is that this time of year the Plumeria looks like a Minnesota deciduous tree - it looks dead. Everything else is green and flowers are everywhere, but this one type of tree is bare.

Then gradually a flower or two appear and maybe a couple of leaves. It seems weird to see a tree with one flower, but this is the type of thing I notice on my walk. I watch carefully when I spot a tree like this to see if someone has picked the flower to put behind their ear. Gradually, more flowers and leaves emerge over a month or so. 

Hawaiians could have a Spring if the would agree that the time flowers appeared on a Plumeria tree was the beginning of Spring. 

Road Maintenance

 I have mentioned earlier that the vegetation here is thick and continually growing. Cutting back the vegetation among the roads is the Kauai version of filling potholes. Despite the number of individuals spending day after day working the job never seems to be finished. You get to the end and it is time to go back to the beginning and start again,