Brian here, I promised you something special if you behaved and I am delighted to bring you our first “Guest Feature”. Some of you may recognize Brad Marks from the many comments to my posts over the years. He has been a long-time friend of mine that started when we both had Information Technology careers at a local Fortune 50 corporation. We actually retired on the exact same day. I have always wanted to bring my readers new adventures while giving my fellow birder friends a chance to share their experiences with a broader community. A toe-tip in the blogging waters so to speak and who knows, maybe a catalyst to embark on their own blog journey – or minimally more future guest spots here. I know you will enjoy Brad’s post and will now hand over the reins and head back into the nightmare lab. Be sure and let him know how much you appreciated his effort in the comments!
……Take it away Brad.
While many of avid birders may be trying for a Big Year (700+ bird species spotted), or Medium Year (350-ish?), I’ve tried to focus (no pun intended) on going for an Extra Extra Small Year (only 45 species YTD, +6 for the Life List). I know Brian’s loyal readers are used to a certain visual and textual representation standard so I hope this posting does not disappoint.
We (Jan and I) like to take photographic vacations, or at least vacations in very photographic places. And while we do like to catch the local wildlife and scenery, we sometimes make focused efforts for specific subject matter. For example, on our recent Hawaiian vacation (to celebrate a milestone anniversary) we hiked 45+ minutes, round trip, in the dark (with only mobile phone lights) to see an active lava lake. Who wouldn’t?
We also took a day trip from the Kona Coast (desert west side) on the Big Island of Hawai’i to the Kipuka Puaulu (pronounced “kee-‘poo-kah” and “poo-‘ah-oo-loo”) Trail and nature preserve on the slopes of Mauna Loa (rainy southeast-ish side) just outside the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Our goal was to photograph some of the Big Island’s feathered friends. The circular trail is a little over a mile long and is a very easy hike if you have the time. However, by the time we drove the 93 miles (2+ hours including 15 miles of switchbacks) to the preserve, the birds had all gone off for Kona coffee breaks. All except for this one and a couple of friends.
Hit the jump to read more about Jan and Brad’s recent adventure!
The Kalij Pheasant (kahl-eege) is a transplant from southern Asia around the early 1960’s. They were originally brought to the islands to be game birds. With no natural predators, they quickly expanded beyond their original borders. (when has introducing a new species ever gone as planned?) The birds developed new social structures on Hawaii not seen in their native range on the slopes of the Himalayas. In Asia the birds tend to pair off: one female and one male. In Hawaii, they tend to be a sort of collective with a single female and up to six attending males. Although requiring little care, rearing chicks is a community event. Like their Asian relatives, these birds prefer living at modest altitudes. (Thanks to the Audubon site for the info)
These pheasants were mainly photographed between 3,000 and 4,000 feet of elevation (or between 1,000 and 1,300 meters) in moderate to heavily forested areas. The birds are most active early to mid-morning, and then again early to late evening, though we saw them pretty much whenever the sun was in the sky. We usually spotted them on the edges of the forest or on garden or hiking paths. The Kalij Pheasants in this preserve showed no fear of humans. On the contrary, these were very curious, often coming within a couple of feet of us (less than a meter). While we never saw them airborne, they do sleep in trees at night.
As we arrived at the kipuka, I had to choose which lens to carry for the hike. Since this was a moderately forested area, and I was also looking for floral targets, I chose my medium (18-200mm) zoom lens, not the Bazooka (200-500mm) as a friend calls it. Jan stuck with her iPhone 13 Pro. When we had hiked to the furthest possible point from the rental car, Jan and I heard a light skittering in the leaves. Right about then Jan pointed into the trees and saw this hen emerge from the forest. (she’s my bird whisperer because she could almost always spot them before I did)
Then we heard some not-so-subtle skittering (imagine a gang of squirrels in a pile of autumn leaves) coming from the same direction. Knowing wild pigs are in the area we had a microsecond of concern, but only until this male popped out of the forest.
A second male arrived from the other side of the path (his approach was masked by the racket the first male made), but was probably one of the groups “awkward teenage” males as he never really approached the female at all.
The female is very well adapted for the brown forest undergrowth, and is even able to hide motionless amongst the greenery.
The male is usually dark blue/black with a colorful tail.
Both have large tails and red highlights around their eyes. And while the female’s tail matched her subdued brown coloring, the male’s matched his coloring with a central area of black and white stripes with black ends on the tail feathers. The male’s dark feathers took on an iridescent purple in direct sunlight at the correct angle. Both sexes have dirt-colored legs, but the males have a nasty looking spike on the back of each leg. One of the males had a band on his leg, but I could never get the proper angle to photograph any markings.
This male decided to give a Fabio-esque flip of his crest, but the female did not seem to be impressed.
The female gave me the head-on view several times. While I didn’t see any chicks nearby, I got the impression I should call her Roz from Monster’s Inc. “I’m watching. Always watching”.
On our last day on the Big Island, I started to capture some floral photos from the wonderful tropical rain forest garden where we were staying. The garden was in very close quarters so I ventured out onto the “road” to let my eyes focus a bit further for a minute or two. That’s when I happened to catch some natural pheasant behavior a bit down the road from where we were staying. This male had been strutting with another male further down the road. They would walk back and forth across the road in the same direction as the other, strutting to try to impress the females that must have been hiding in the foliage. When they reached the edge of the road, they would turn around and strut to the other side. Strut. Turn. Repeat. The strutting went on for a several minutes before one male left the field of play.
Once the lesser male gave up, the remaining male must have noticed me standing in the road. I had been inching my way closer to them because they were still a fair distance away, trying not to scare them. He then continued his strutting towards me, walking from one side of the road to the other as he approached. But as he came nearer, he gave up the side-to-side strut and walked straight towards me, crest fanned out, as if to say (best read this part with a fakey French accent as if you were leaning over a castle parapet) “Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time”.
It was at this precise moment a neighbor’s car (out of the field of view) approached, startling this bird and saving me from his wrath. He ran into the greenery and was not seen again.
This parting photo is from a prior trip on the island of O’ahu. We were standing at the Nu’uanu Pali (“Noo-‘oo-ah-noo Pah-lee”) Lookout battling the 25-30 MPH winds that are natural in the area. Jan was hanging onto me as I tried to hold onto my hat and take this photo. (This cliff is famous because in 1795 King Kamehameha I won the final battle that united the islands of Hawai’i under his rule. Warriors from the defeated tribes were forced over the sheer cliffs.)
Wildlife Intrigued 
Great post. At first glance, I thought the lava flow was one of Brian’s Halloween props. It’s a wonderful photo. Those Kalij Pheasants are handsome birds. Beautiful photos.
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Thanks for the kind review. We quickly figured out that if you hold still, the pheasants hang around for photos, even posing once in a while.
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The run of the mill pheasants we have around here can be aggressive. My wife had a real knock-down, drag out fight with a pheasant that attacked her when she was running on the ditch some years back.
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Carry a large lens, it seems to calm them. Plus the Kalij are a bit smaller than Ring necks.
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Great post! I think you need to go into the blogging world! Maybe a travel blog? Would love to hear more about your many trips.
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Thank you for the kind comments. I’ve thought about regular articles, but so far have just posted photos from a few of our trips. If you are really curious, you can try: bradmarks.smugmug.com/Family-Vacations or /Wildlife. Thanks for stopping by.
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I like the way you think Tim – now just need to convince Linda that flowing lava would be safe for our guests!
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Women are way too safety minded.
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Flaming pumpkins, flowing lava, not much difference.
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Very cool a new and exotic bird! Thanks for filling the gap.
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Thanks for the comment. Simply trying to help out a fellow birder and company retiree.
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Very nice post, an interesting read (not that B’s aren’t) and lovely images (ditto).
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Thank you. Brian has set a high standard for images and content that fills in the rest of the story. I’m trying to help fill in between his training sessions as well as my retirement vacations.
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… and greatly appreciated .. it’s crunch time and this Wednesday, planning on the “simulation” run to gauge how well my training has been – hoping this rain clears out of here.
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I know and admit when I’ve been bested – we’ll make sure Brad brings us more exciting adventures in the future!
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Another article is with my editorial team as we speak.
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Why not help set him up with his own blog? After all Ron did and puts on some great posts every year or three 🤣🤣😂
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Ha! Yes, I guess it’s been a while, now that you mention it. We’ll see…
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Ron, I could create an extra post if you need a jump start . . . 🙂
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Well captured!
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Thank you very much. It’s very easy to photograph these birds when they come out of the woods and pose for you.
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Had a double run day and spent the rest of the day in the Nightmare Lab. Came up to check out your post Brad. Proving my biggest fear that you’d put something really cool up and spoiling my readers forevermore! Just kidding of course, but you did bring it. That Pheasant is amazing – our Ring-Necks can hold their own against most birds, but these (both the male and female) give them a good run for the money. You also get bonus points for referencing Monty Python – you must be reading my posts ha. I hope that race you recommended I sign up for doesn’t take you through or anywhere near that lava lake – no way, no how. A well rounded post – great shots, great looks at the bird (even a Ron shot), personal adventure and even a history lesson – bravo. Clearly my readers want more.
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The Lava Run does not take you dangerously close to the lava lake, at least none that we currently know about. The Forest Run is probably the safest on the volcano. BTW, we were a mile away from the night lava lake in the photo I posted. But when it’s quiet you can hear the volcano burping and spitting from a mile away.
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Now these are some very interesting looking birds. I always loving seeing new birds. Thank you for sharing. 😉
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Very welcome and happy to. They are way smaller than ring neck pheasants, but have lots of personality.
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Wow, those are great shots, Brad! And those are really interesting facts about the species and the location. Weird that their societal mores changed after their introduction to the area. I do empathize with you on the menacing bird!
I know you’re a long-time photographer. You definitely need a photography blog, maybe one that includes landscape photos as well as bird photos. (I can hear Brian H. right now laughing about the status of my own blog per his comment above — I’m getting around to it, Brian, very soon! 🙂 )
But please don’t let Brian get the idea to travel to Hawaii–the ABA now includes Hawaii and I’ll never, ever, ever get closer to reaching his bird count…
Thanks for your guest post, Brad! It was fun to read, and I’m sure Brian will be very happy to let you have more of these for us to enjoy.
Ron
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Thanks Ron! I encourage either of you to go to Hawaii. I tried out a new camera bag that fits in our regional jet overhead bins and does NOT have to be gate checked like standard carryon bags, so big glass is safe to travel inside the plane. Had +6 on this last trip, and 16 unique to Hawaii over the years. Just think of all the articles you could write.
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Thank you Brad for a very engaging and informative post with lovely photos. Brian, thank you for posting this. ❤
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Thank you for the nice comments Cheryl. Much of the credit goes to my family who tolerates the photo sessions wherever we travel. Especially to my wife Jan and daughter Allyson; they are my editors to help make sure I don’t say anything dumb. And to Bryan for opening up his site for my guest post.
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Aloha Brian and Brad. Wonderful to read Brad’s essay on the Kalij pheasants and his Big Island adventures. I am a big fan of the Big Island, have been there many times, and enjoyed learning more about the kalij pheasants. I have been hiking in the upper reaches of the Big Island and similarly spooked by the rustling they made, only to be pleasantly surprised by their exotic looks and easy nature. Loved seeing the lava flow at night, too. Great post–mahalo.
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Appreciate your comments and hiking observations, mahalo nui loa. The Big Island is also our favorite (volcanoes anyone?). We were fortunate to have a long enough vacation this time to take the small side trips where tourists rarely go. Ours was often the only car in the parking area. Have you you hiked the upper/inner Waipio valley just outside Waimea?
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No, I have not hiked that one. Aloha to you, Brad.
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It is definitely worth the effort on a clear day. Do NOT hike the trail alone and do NOT go if you are afraid of heights. The first time we hiked the trail we were completely fogged in, couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front or behind or below.. A friend hiking with us said not to slip off the trail because the foliage wouldn’t stop our fall. We did not realize the 3 foot wide path we were on was on a 75-80 degree slope about 2,000 feet above the valley floor. The second time we hiked it the skies were clear. But once we cleared the trees and we realized where we were, we took a quick photo and headed back to the car. Great photo though!
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Excellent photos, great behavioral stories – thanks for being the guest author!
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Thank you for stopping by. And thanks to Brian for hosting my first post. Easy photos when the birds pose for you.
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Very glad you liked the article. And welcome to the Intrigued reader family.
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