Last time I was in Hawaii I managed to get all sorts of gorgeous bug photographs.
This time my creepy-crawlie collecting wasn’t so fruitful, but I did get some lovely images of birds to make up for it.
![IMG_9011](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9011.jpg)
Why hello little sparrow
![IMG_9138](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9138.jpg)
The endangered Hawaiian 'alae 'ula (red billed Moorhen) was my most exciting sighting
![IMG_9136](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9136.jpg)
The 'alae 'ula is clearly a distant cousin of the flashier NZ pukeko
![IMG_9047](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_90471-374x500.jpg)
A black swan. Native in Australia, endemic in NZ, and I had to go to Hawaii to get a photo of one!
![IMG_9054](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_90541.jpg)
I love the ruffling of the feathers. This image is going into my inspiration file
![IMG_9056](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9056-374x500.jpg)
The red bill with the black feathers is amazing!
![IMG_9007](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9007.jpg)
I love mourning doves. Sometimes I can hear them in the background when I phone home to Hawaii, and it makes me homesick like nothing else.
![IMG_9376](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9376.jpg)
An exciting caterpillar eats a mango lilikoi leaf.
![IMG_9178](https://thedreamstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_9178.jpg)
Ants collect pollen and dew on a squash blossom
Ditto on the mourning doves. I haven’t heard them since I moved to Sweden, and they were also my favorite.
I want to say “Awww”…but that seems trite. Where were you from that there were mourning doves? I don’t recall them in New York or California, but they might be in the South.
I adore birds! You photos are lovely.