“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has song.”—Maya Angelou
I love being in the company of birds. From the time we landed on Maui, they made themselves known, especially when we were lounging around the lush vegetation near the pool and every time we had dinner in open air restaurants. At the Marriott Ocean Club, they have a cockatoo named Kukui (photo) who loves to whistle, and charm passersby by talking to them or mimicking their speech. It was heartening to notice that they kept Kukui mostly outside his cage. He is popular with the kids and adults alike and is well taken care of by the staff. I visited him before and after yoga classes. Our granddaughters Lyla and Emmy got to see and hear Kukui on the way to their art classes in the activity center.
There is an amazing on-site African Black-Footed Penguin habitat at the Hyatt Recency Maui, as part of their wildlife program that include exotic cranes, black and white swans and flamingos that hangout in the lagoons and ponds. Our daughter Michelle and Kyle took our granddaughters to visit them at their 9:30 feeding in the Atrium Lobby. I visited them recently before my yoga class. On average these playful creatures consume 100 pounds of fish every week. They are fun to watch swim, sunbathe, dig burrows in the sand, and just waddle around. This species of penguin is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list of endangered species due to a combination of threats they face in the wild. I actually got to be in the midst of these beautiful creatures during a camera safaris in South Africa. African penguins are one of 14 species that live in warm climates. They can hold their breath over two minutes, swim more than 12 mph and dive over 400 feet. They are nicknamed “donkey pegs” for the braying sounds they make. One a year they lose all their feathers, a process that is referred to as molting.
The Black-Crowned Night Heron named Henry, is not an official part of the penguin habitat. He is basically a wild bird the visits so frequently that he has become part of the family. They can fly up to 35 miles per hour and can be seen surface swimming, diving or walking through shallow water.
Mynah Birds with yellow beak, feet and around the rim of the eye, were a constant presence. They are native to Asia.
One bird I was surprised to see while taking a walk, was a mother hen teaching her chicks how to eat earthworms in a patch of grass she unearthed. Apparently, baby chickens can eat mealworms beginning at around one to two weeks old. The high protein value makes words more nutrition than any other treats. You can’t really see the worms, but it is apparent this what is taking place.
"One reason…birds matter—or ought to matter"—says Jonathan Franzen, "is that they are our last, best connection to a natural world that is otherwise receding. They’re the most vivid and widespread representatives of the Earth as it was before people arrived on it."
