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Posted by Jeff Weber on 14:20:59 02/19/08
In Reply to: Male Canvasbacks posted by Hawker
I agree that optics really do make all the difference in wildlife viewing. Last Saturday, I was using Swarovski 10X42s to watch Humpbacked Whales breaching off the Waikoloa coast of the Big Island, Hi., and could see every nuance of those incredible cetacean acrobatics. It was an unbelievable day for this sort of thing, with more than a hundred full breaches seen as close as 30 yds. In addition to the sights, the sound of 4 tons of whale splashing back into the ocean was almost deafening. Very cool.
Oh. . . since this is a Birdboard, I'll mention birds, too. I spent last week in Hawaii watching non-native birds everywhere - Common Mynas, Gray Francolins, Japanese White-Eyes, Silverbills, Brazilian Cardinals, Northern Cardinals, Saffron Finches, Zebra Sparrows/Finches - until I began to despair that there are few native birds left. (One reason for that soon revealed itself as a mongoose scooting across the hotel lawn.) Finally, a migratory Lesser Golden-Plover (or is it "Pacific" now?) showed up outside my Lanai, a sighting that was trumped as darkness fell by a fly-by Hawaiian-race Short-eared Owl.
On the herp front, there were lots of little green geckos with orange spots on the head and near the tail - just like the one on the Geico commercials. Didn't see any cavemen, though.
My celebratory brew for the native birds was Kona Fire Rock dark ale. Excellent!
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