Asahi 旭 is growing like a weed!
We’ve recently seen two kolea on campus at the same time. (Usually it’s only one.)
Our waxbill flock usually comes in at the end of the day.
Geckos wanna be birds too! : )
Asahi 旭 is but 24 or so hours old and already eating solid food! Sashimi, of course!
‘Twas an amazing day to be photographing white terns!
We even have another white tern pair checking out another kukui nut tree on the makai playground!
Truly exciting to be watching the endless life drama just above our heads!
All the comings and goings…
White tern parents rock!
Asahi 旭 is already bringing great joy to her many land-based admirers!
Our new makai playground pair must have gotten the message: HNS is a great place to raise a chick!
Asahi: “I love my mum! Or… is that my dad? Hard to tell…”
And since the photo opportunities were just incredible today, a few more pix, for those who just can’t get enough white tern photographs, like all members of the HNS White Tern Observation Team!
Whatever will tomorrow bring?
Stay tuned for more 旭 News!
Last Thursday, we — The HNS White Tern Observation Team — caught a glimpse of The Egg!
Based on how long the parent birds have been sitting in that one location, we knew a new chick would be with us soon.
Then today:
An eggshell!
The hatching attracted a lot of attention, from another white tern pair as well as other bird species.
Mum (or dad — who can tell?) looked on, unruffled.
Then, at day’s end, we caught sight of grey fluff!
Her name is Asahi (旭, “morning sun”).
Mahalo Ms. Sakiko for choosing such a lovely name!
Mum (or dad’s) busy already keeping little Asahi 旭 safe!
It won’t be long before both parents are flying off to catch appropriately-sized fish for Asahi 旭 and delivering them fresh!
White tern chicks just love sashimi!
So, when at the HNS main gate, look up!
Often.
Note: Years ago now Ms. Sakiko took on the onerous task of naming HNS’s white tern chicks. Left up to students, chicks were invariably named Fluffy or Puffball, with those who “lost out” on the naming feeling mightily aggrieved. (“You can call her Fluffy but I’m going to call her PUFFBALL!”) Happily, HNS students have accepted the “Ms. Sakiko Names the Chicks” tradition and delight in new chicks, no ruffled student feathers!
And this is all she wrote. Tsuki has flown her birth tree and favorite sunbathing trees!
Bye bye Tsuki 月!
06.02.22 — A white tern flew over the green during the HNS graduation. Without a doubt she was wishing the graduates “Happy flying!”
White Terns belong to a seabird group known as “tuna birds”… The name comes from the bird’s foraging technique. When hunting, tuna, dolphinfish (mahimahi), other predatory fish and dolphins drive small fish and squid to the water’s surface, making them available to seabirds hunting above.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
One charming trait of White Terns is their ability to hold fish crosswise in their beaks and still catch more.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
Often, White Terns leave their trees at sunrise and come home at sunset, but sometimes parents make two or more fishing trips in one day.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
Neither kukui trees not mahogany trees are common in Honolulu, yet terns seek them out, probably because those trees offer prime egg-balancing opportunities.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
Males and females share sitting equally, usually staying 24 to 48 hours. Shift lengths vary according to couple, however, with some changing after six hours and other brooding as long as 72 hours.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
The mottled tan chick, with brown or black streaks on its head, hatches in 35 to 36 days on average.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
We shall miss Tsuki 月!
Of all the white-tern chicks we’ve had at HNS, Tsuki 月 made the most eye contact with her many admirers and was the most curious about the two-leggeds looking up at her.
She was also chockablock full of personality, some of which was captured in photos.
Enjoy a few more photographs plus quotations from Susan Scott’s Hawaiʻi’s White Tern published by UH Press.
Ornithologist George C. Munro speculated that the bird’s original Hawaiian name might have been ʻohu, a word that the Hawaiian Dictionary defines as “mist, fog, vapor, light cloud on a mountain…”
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
Above: Look carefully—both of Tsuki’s parents have fish in their beaks! Of course, Tsuki 月 is nowhere to be found!
According to master Hawaiian navigator Nainano Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, “the manu-o-Kū go about 120 miles out”… in their search for fish and squid.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
In 1961, the first White Terns breeding on Oʻahu were noted when an avid birder photographed an adult sitting on an egg in a Kiwi tree near Koko Head. Since then, the White Tern population has steadily increased in Honolulu.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
The White Tern is the only conspicuous native bird breeding in the trees of Honoluluʻs parks, yards, and city streets.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
For reasons unknown, pairs prefer (so far) the south side of [O’ahu], from Liu Valley to Sand Island, even though the tall trees the birds favor grow throughout O’ahu… White Terns are abundant in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands…
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
Just before egg laying, both parents lose feathers on their bellies, creating bare skin patches that help transfer the adults’ body heat to the egg, and later to the newly-hatched chick.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
It’s easy to identify a White Tern’s graceful, nearly floating flight… The fluttering flight of White Terns is distinct and, once you know it, unmistakable.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
White Terns usually live 16 to 18 years, but there are exceptions. On O’ahu, the oldest known White Tern is 37 years old.
—Susan Scott, Hawaiʻi’s White Tern
If you enjoy Where’s Waldo? you might have fun with “Where’s Tsuki 月?”
Tsuki 月 has distinctive eyes. She has beautiful, long eyelashes!
To get you started finding Tsuki 月, the first photograph in the 04.25.22 set shows off Tsuki’s 月’s gorgeous eyes!
Sometimes I think that the point of birdwatching
is not the actual seeing of the birds,
but the cultivation of patience.
—Lynn Thomson (author)
Birds will give you a window, if you allow them.
They will show you secrets from another world–
fresh vision that, though it is avian,
can accompany you home and alter your life.
—Lyanda Lynn Haupt (author)
Birds are indicators of the environment.
If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.
—Roger Tory Peterson (ornithologist)
It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
—Aesop
Adopt the pace of Nature; her secret is patience.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (essayist, philosopher)
Gliders, sail planes, they're wonderful flying machines.
It's the closest you can come to being a bird.
—Neil Armstrong
5 white terns in one frame!
5 white terns in one frame!
5 white terns in one frame!
‘Carpe Diem,’ does not mean ‘fish of the day.’
—Unknown
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
—Douglas Adams
Once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward,
for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
—Leonardo Da Vinci (inventor, artist)
I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful —
an endless prospect of magic and wonder.
—Ansel Adams (photographer)
As children, we are very sensitive to nature’s beauty, finding miracles
and interesting things everywhere. As we grow up, we tend to forget how beautiful
and magnificent the world is. There is magic and wonder for eyes who know
how to look with curiosity and love.
—Ansel Adams (photographer)
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
—Aristotle (philosopher)
In nature, we find silence and tranquility, yet nature has its own language
by which it speaks to those who are paying attention.
—Radahath Swami (monk)
Remarkably, Tsuki (月) is still around, usually sleeping and warming up on a high branch of the makai playground kukui nut tree nearest to Starbucks.
Mum and dad still bring her fish, which she gobbles down in faster than you can raise a camera and get a shot. We all hope Tsuki will come back to have her chicks with us!
On the bright side, the kukui nut trees on the makai playground are routinely scrutinized as potential “nesting” spots. Manu-o-Ku (white terns) do not make nests!
One pair, in particular, looks ready to settle down in one of the trees over the front gate. So much so we removed dead branches that looked like they might not be safe for a fluffy little tree angel.
Enjoy a few photographs taken since the last tern post, April 2, 2022.
One reason that birds matter—ought to matter—is that they are our last,
best connection to a natural world that is otherwise receding. They’re the most
vivid and widespread representatives of the Earth as it was
before people arrived on it.
—Jonathan Franzen (author, bird lover)
There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window.
You’d be a fool to miss it.
—Charlotte Eriksson (author, songwriter)
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
—William Shakespeare (playwright)
Watching birds has become part of my daily meditation.
—Carol P. Christ (historian, theologian)
Birds are the most accomplished aeronauts the world has ever seen.
—David Attenborough (natural historian)
Nature is not a place to visit, it is home.
—Gary Snyder (poet)
I think the most important quality in a birdwatcher is a willingness to stand quietly
and see what comes. Our everyday lives obscure a truth about existence –
that at the heart of everything there lies a stillness and a light.
—Lynn Thomson (author)
The bird thinks it a favor to give the fish a lift in the air.
—Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali polymath)
In order to see birds, it is necessary to become part of the silence.”
– Robert Lynd (author)
I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than aeroplanes.
—Charles Lindbergh (aviator)
Birds are, perhaps, the most eloquent expression of reality.
—Roger Tory Peterson (naturalist, ornithologist)
I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.
—Emily Dickinson (poet)
Tsuki (月): “This is me one month ago, small and fluffy.”
Tsuki, our manu-o-Kū (white tern) chick has grown like a weed.
Tsuki (03.01.22) is pictured above
By the time you reach the bottom of this gallery (04.01.22) you’ll see Tsuki beginning to fly!
HNS student: “We don’t grow that fast!”
Here’s a quick catch-me-up over the last month…
Still a fluffy little tree angel.
Tsuki (月): “Hello! Here I’m still a fluffy little tree angel.”
Tsuki’s white feathers begin to show amidst her brown & gray fluff!
What a difference a week makes!
Tsuki the fluffy little tree angel now has white feathers & wings!
Tsuki (月): “See me stretching my wings?”
Tsuki: “Hello world!”
Student question: Why does Tsuki grow so fast?
Answer: For many species, the faster you attain adulthood, the less likely you are to be eaten by a hungry predator!
Tsuki (月): “I’d rather not be eaten by a predator.”
Manu-o-Kū (white terns) fly about with the speed and agility of fighter jets.
On 03.31.22 a stranger manu-o-Kū thought s/he might secure a foothold in Tsuki’s kukui-nut tree.
Tsuki’s parents initiated an aerial dog fight!
Tsuki, parent 1 & agitated parent 2: “Intruder alert!”
Parent 2: “And stay away!”
The transfer of big fish from parent to child is now so quick it’s no wonder we see fewer feeding sessions.
Gulp!
And the fish is down the gullet in seconds!
Parent: “Fish? Big fish? It’s fresh.”
Parent: “That didn’t take long.”
Parent: “Just flap a lot and glide. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.”
Tsuki (月): “First, I think I’ll eat a piece of wood.”
Tuski (月): “I can do this!”
Tsuki (月): “Where to now?”
Tuski (月): “Wow.”
Tsuki (月): “I think I’m getting the hang of this!”
Tsuki (月): “Let’s see if I can get to that branch over there.”
Tsuki (月): “Watch out HNS, by next Monday I’ll be flying—and maybe crashing—in the playground!”
Parent: “And before long, you’ll be soaring. And catching your own fish.”
Tsuki: “Aloha everyone. I’m Tsuki.”
Tsuki: “I live on a branch in a kukui nut tree. Children look at me all day long.”
Tsuki: “Life is pretty good here at HNS. No complaints”
Tsuki: “Dad? Is that you?”
Dad: “I brought you a nice fish.”
Tsuki: “Thanks, Dad but… not interested.”
Tsuki: “Mum was just here stuffing me with fish. And you know mum.”
Tsuki: “Fine, I’ll take a look.”
Tsuki: “Hmmm… that’s not my favorite…”
Tsuki: “I think… not. Nope.”
Tsuki: “Is that an ant on my foot?”
Tsuki: “Maybe a baby centipede? Dad, is that a centipede?”
Tsuki: “Look, Dad, my wings! Before you know it I’ll be jetting around like you!”
Dad: “My daughter, if you don’t eat your fish, you’ll never jet about.”
Dad: “Children!”
Not much happens.
Dad: “Tsuki, I’m begging you to reconsider. You don’t want to live on this branch forever.”
Tsuki: “What does this fish look like upside down?”
Tsuki: “Hey dad, I know a good upside-down-fish joke. Want to hear it?”
Dad: “Fish heads are tasty. Very tasty.”
Tsuki thinks: Maybe my old man knows a thing or two.
Tsuki: “You’re right!”
Tsuki: “Tasty!”
Tsuki: “Fish, glorious fish!”
Dad: “Try not to get into any trouble.”
Tsuki: “I haven’t had any squid recently. Maybe a baby? A baby squiddy?”
Dad: “I’ll see what I can do. No promises.”
Tsuki: “Oh, and I want to see Encanto. Do we have Disney Plus?”
Dad: “Later, Tsuki. Maybe much, much later…”