Hawaiian Wildlife

As you may know Hawai'i is full of wildlife not common to the mainland. On our first day out to the beach we spotted two of the rarest species.

The first was the black-billed flycatcher. She was so still and patient waiting for her prey. At one point I thought we might need to check for a pulse.

The second sighting was of the purple breasted oompah. What was unusual was that she was accompanied by the black chested oompah male (unpictured). They were off for a water hunting expedition.

There were many others but we were not fast enough with the camera to capture them.

We entered the water and snorkeled for a while but I had an equipment malfunction which cut my time short. Today the waves were too high for snorkeling so we spent the day out and about.

We hit the farmers market in the morning to find some local fruit but ended up with other items like baked goods, beads and other items.

We hit a coffee farm for a tour and found some more wildlife. Here is Brianna with the chameleon that Kathi found in the orange tree. We all took turns holding the little guy. We also saw two pigs that were roaming but again they alluded the camera's eye.


After the caffeine fest we headed for lunch and then to a market that was on the main street through the center of Kona. We had the obligatory shaved ice and the kids picked up some souvenirs.

We spent a little time watching the waves and letting the kids play on the beach before heading home to grill some steaks on the lanai.