On my way back from watching the sunrise from the beach near our house this morning, I walked back along the road that leads to the Kahala Hotel. After passing the Kahala Beach Apartments next door, you reach the beginning of the Waialae Country Club parking lot.
There I saw what appeared to be five or six white fairy terns, in Hawaii known as Manu-o-Ku, fluttering around the tree, landing briefly on a branch, then flying off again.
Then I realized the action was centered on two apparent fledglings that landed on a branch as the several other birds continued to flutter around them. The fledglings were flapping their wings and squawking to let their parents know it was time to be fed.
I managed to get a couple of good pictures of them (among the dozen or so attempts). The second photo is the winner!
Fairy Terns at Waialae CC
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What kind of camera are you using? That second photo looks like a perfect painting of a photo.
I’m using a Panasonic Lumix S9, a full-frame digital camera. Today luckily I was using a Panasonic 28-200mm zoom, which allowed me to zoom on on the birds.
But neither photo was just “out of the camera.” I had to process both, cropping what you see from a larger photo, adjusting the light and contrast so that the bird would stand out, reducing the digital “noise,” etc. That’s a bit more than I usually have to do with the dog, cat, and sunrise pics.
Fantastic photo. I watch the adult fairy terns while swimming at the Pacific Club. They must have plenty of young ones there as they are always fluttering around certain trees.
Thank you for showing these
Beautiful, Ian…made my day.
Fantastic, Ian! Just a beautiful catch – so nice to have these very special little creatures in your neighborhood too!!! Maika’i no!
I love our fairy terns. Thanks for the great photos, Ian!
I couldn’t figure out why I’ve never seen one of these lovely birds, so I asked Google about their habitat/range. I’m on the Leeward side and Google says they are located in urban Honolulu from Niu Valley to Sand Island, where they often nest in trees along highways.