Feathered Friends

We are happy many of our feathered family have returned for winter.  Phil took this picture yesterday while hiding behind the bushes.

#1 Northern Cardinal
#2 Java Sparrow
#3 Yellow Front Canary
#4 Yellow Billed Cardinal
#5 Saffron Finch

(We have two varieties of doves and regular visitors not in the photo include Japanese White Eye and our favorite, Melodious Laughing Thrush.)

Someone recently scolded me because I use a slingshot with small lava pebbles to scare away the aggressive mongoose.   Why?  The mongooses were introduced to eradicate the rats that came migrated off exploration and trading ships.  Problem was that a mongoose hunts during the day, but rats are active at night. The exploding mongoose population has had a negative impact on wild birds in Hawaii because they hunt and kill many ground feeding species and destroy their nests.

The second photo was taken from my desk where a wall to wall window looks out onto a beautiful stand of Ohia trees (about 15 feet away) where the Saffron Finches love to flit about catching bugs.