Kauai 2013: day 3

Day three of my vacation coincided with Super Bowl Sunday, so I spent most of the day at a small gathering at a friend's house. This ended up being a good thing, as that's when I hit the travel wall and was pretty much a walking zombie not fit for much besides watching t.v. for several hours. I did, however, step out onto the lanai from time to time to try and take some shots of the Mejiros (aka Japanese White-eyes) as they flitted from tree to tree:

I was most interested in getting some shots of the birds as they worked the blossom of a nearby banana tree, and eventually my persistence paid off:

Since I was having a hard time choosing between photos, I'm basically just going to share a whole bunch of them (no pun intended) with minimal commentary—they're all fairly self-explanatory anyway:

A wider shot of a bird on the blossom, just to help provide a sense of perspective:

Peek-a-boo...

Yup, I see you:

I really liked how the position of the bird echoed the curve of the plant in these next two photos:

One final pic for the road:

Sweet Sunday

This afternoon I went over to the Sugar Shack to take a few pictures. Thanks to their Facebook page, I knew they'd be boiling today; in fact, it was likely the last weekend they'll be boiling this year. As always, walking up and seeing the steam pouring out of the building was a happy moment:

Rather than a wood-burning machine, they're now using an oil-burning evaporator, which allows them to be much more productive while going through a lot less fuel:

I wish there was some way to somehow attach the amazingly sweet smell of the steam coming off the evaporator—there's nothing else like it on earth:

Drawing off some syrup:

Getting ready to test the liquid's specific gravity with a hydrometer

They also use a new filtration system that sends the syrup through a series of chambers:

The sweet result. Trust me—if you've never tasted fresh maple syrup, especially when it's still warm from the machine, you're missing out on one of life's purest pleasures:

Kauai 2013: Day 2 Part 2

Basically, a bunch of pictures of the other bird I photographed this particular afternoon—a Cattle Egret. First up, a picture I took of an egret in a small meadow that was on our way over to the beach:

A little while later, an egret landed up in one of the trees along the edge of Tunnels Beach—the only time such a thing happened while we were hanging out there:

After posing in the tree for me for several minutes, the egret decided it was ready to spend some quality time on the beach, landing not all that far from where my folks were sitting:

It then started working its way through the foliage at a very leisurely pace. Which, needless to say, was absolutely fine by me:

I really liked how the colors came out in the shot:

Enjoy a bit of a snack in the form of a black anole:

Taking in the lay of the land from a fallen tree trunk:

The classic one-legged pose:

Taking a moment to decide where to next place its foot:

Another shot I really liked in terms of how the lighting and colors came out:

Finally, perhaps having tired of keeping an eye on me and my camera, it flew further back into the protective cover of the brush:

Kauai 2013: Day 2

My second day in Kauai was my first chance to visit the Saturday farmer's market. Shortly after the market opened, a vendor started calling out to draw people's attention to the rainbow that had appeared across the way, in the opposite direction from where most shoppers were facing. I know I'd have missed it if he hadn't said anything, so if he happens by some random happenstance to be reading this: thank you.

That afternoon, we headed back to Tunnels Beach to enjoy a quiet afternoon of sand, waves, and sunshine as I continued to get my feet under me. I'm not one for sunbathing per se, as I tend to get bored just lying there, but sitting with my camera and finding things to photograph? That I'm just fine with. A surfer checking his camera before heading out to catch some waves; I hope his images came out okay:

 

And some shots of a few Red-crested Cardinals that were working both the sand around us and the trees behind us:

I noticed that sometimes they drooped their wings down when they were on land, almost to the point where the tips were touching the ground, but so far I haven't thought of a reason why that might be:

I was looking almost straight up at this one for the next two shots:

 

This one caught my eye because it was such a different red from what I'm used to seeing on these birds:

Helpfully, one of the other birds hopped to a nearby branch so I could get some nice comparison shots:

More shots to come from this particular day...

Kauai 2013: First day

I'm not feeling incredibly verbose tonight, but I wanted to start getting some pics from this year's trip to Kauai posted. Although I suppose that since these were taken on my first day there, when I was barely coherent, the lack of verbiage is rather appropriate... Looking at the Na Pali coast from what became our usual spot on the beach:

Love the colors of the water:

I had the theme to Jaws running through my head as I watched this snorkeler working his way across the water:

A Zebra dove that was wandering around close to where we were sitting:

One last beach shot for the road: