via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BEXP69eAMvZ/
For a couple of years, I’ve had 2 hummingbirds that got trapped in the greenhouse and died. They were kinda mummified. Recently they disintegrated. I put the skulls in strong hydrogen peroxide and voila!
“Lloyd:
this eagle was recently photographed on the property of ZBS <https://www.zbs.org/>, a producer of radio drama in upstate NY.
jk”
Manhattan-based radio journalist Jon Kalish has reported for NPR since 1980. Newspaper articles, radio docs, podcasts & NPR stories at kalish.nyc.
twitter: kalishjon
Barn Owl
“As part of my work I’m lucky that I get to work all over the UK but I very much enjoy finding wildlife thats local to me and on the way to doing a workshop for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust I noticed a barn owl flying over a field. I drove down a country lane and parked up alone a fence line and sure enough the barn owl landed metres from me an amazing sight that was totally unplanned and still made it in time for my workshop.”
From Anonymous
Above: vacant storefront in Kapaa, future island headquarters of Shelter Publications (just kidding)
Ocean I took a last swim yesterday before leaving the hotel in Kapaa, with fins and some new goggles. Saw fish, coral, sandy spots. Got out and swam 4 laps in the very nice fresh water pool just outside my room. I walked past a hotel guest on my way out of the water and he said, You looked at home out there. Well, all right…Headed north to Hanalei…
Birds All of them are new to me. A flock of little (finch-size) cinnamon brown ones with black heads, elegant color combo, that flit around like a small cloud, staying about 15′ from admiring humanoids. A small grey/white one with a scarlet head. Small doves with blue beaks.
“I like coffee, I like tea, I like the java java and it likes me…Right now I’m at the Hanalei Roasting company with a 16 oz latte and a waffle with papaya and banana slices and, er, um — whipped cream. No wi-fi — hey-hey-hey; makes me think of Mung Noi, Laos village reachable only by water, and no motor vehicles. Remindful in the sense of being in a different world from my normal coastal (east + west) everything’s-on-all-the-time mileau.
Kindred Factor I feel at ease with people here. Brother/sister appreciators of the ocean and the earth, tuned in to the beauty of the physical world.
The S. V. Kauai The size of Kauai is exquisite. 25 X 35 miles, a ship in the sea. Multiple climatic zones, clean fresh air. It feels like I’m out in the Pacific in a (stationary) sailboat, with the ocean moving around me.
Note on travel writing: my blog is hardly viral. It’s down from 2,000 people a day to about 1,000 these days (am posting less), so I’m not worried too much about ruining great spots by describing them. I feel that readers here are more or less like-minded people and should they visit these places, they’ll be tuned-in and welcome visitors.
Hanalei is stunning, but I liked Kapaa a lot. The comparison is a bit like San Francisco/Oakland, or Medford/Ashland. One drawback in Kapaa is the traffic jams. I guess if you live there, you try to travel the highway during off hours. This is Sunday, can’t believe this is only my 4th day here. Oh yeah, I’m staying in a nicely-converted school bus belonging to newly-met friends on the outskirts of town here.
Old Harley pickup truck in Kapaa
I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin about half past dead…
This song recurs to me now and then when I’m on the road. In Puerto Jiminez on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, a kind of dusty border town, the song came to me. And here this morning in Kapaa, on the northern shore of Kauai, I’ve got only a half hour from the airport and I love the place. It’s got the big touristy hotels, but there’s a healthy local gringo culture here, haven’t been here long enough to suss out local Hawai’ian culture, been here less than 48 hours now, gotta check out of hotel soon, so will post some of yesterday’s discoveries before the maid kicks me out:
My Daewoo beater, duct-taped sunroof, $25/day (30 w.tax), perfect, not being the new Avis/Budget/Alamo brand new tourist rental.
Found a place to lay my head, got into ocean, perfect temp., not too cold/warm, oh my! 3 times in water yesterday, each time with fins, once with air mat, which I’m finding difficult to control, squirrelly; a little body surfing; the sand is rough and granular, fluffy, soft, nice to roll around when you come back in. Last night swam in rain. No one else at least here, doing anything like this. I’m like a starving man sitting down to a banquet, the Pacific so inviting and comfortable, unlike the 50 degree NorCal ocean.
Small Town Coffee
Annie Caporufscio set up shop in this converted Ford airport shuttle van with her partner Jeremy Hartshorn; Annie had run the shop for 9 years in rented space, but got tired of the landlords rising the rent and “…didn’t want to be bullied in the lease.” Great barista crema, the muffins make a good breakfast. Local hangout, good vibes…
Kauai Beach House Hostel
$40 shared sleeping room, $80 for a solo room (of which there are 3). Looks doable to me, especially in the land of 2-$300 hotel rooms. On beach, clean, wi-fi, young travelers, kitchen, shared baths, cool place.
Shared room.
Paul Iwai’s Rooster Farm
How many roosters, I asked. 200?
More, Paul said. Are they beautiful! Had great visit with Paul, from a Japanese family, on family land, born here, I know chickens, and we talked shop. Oh my again! Look at these beauties; beautifully tended. You should hear the noise!
I asked Paul where I could buy a knife and he gave me two. We ate macadamia nuts from his trees, he gave me grapefruit, tangerines, I’m sending him 3 books. Kindred spirits abound here.
That’s part of what happened yesterday, gotta pack up and head north now.
This guy has discovered the fish in our pond. Strangely enough, he’s hard to chase away, letting me get to within 25-30 feet. These birds, along with great blue herons are usually very wary and suspicious. Look at the long black legs!
Lew found this hummingbird in the kitchen. It had probably been trapped in there a while; it was catatonic, its chi was ebbing. Its wings were fluffed up in an attempt to get warm. Hummingbirds are perpetual motion machines; they need to be constantly moving and eating to keep up with the high metabolism.
We mixed some agave syrup with warm water and we dipped its beak in it several times. It tilted its head back each time to swallow. Then we put it on a chair in the sun;as it warmed up, its feathers started unfluffing and when we looked a few minutes later, it had taken off.
The scrub jay is so unbelievably blue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pja3UPlNHN8
From Aija Steele via Godfrey Stephens
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