bkrownd
Well-known member
I'd like to photograph the Japanese Bush Warbler and a Peking Nitingale.
Bush warblers are seasonal singers, and they're singing now. Out of season they mostly just make an anonymous scolding "tscht", a bit like a leiothrix but not as vigorously. They are very shy birds. I've only once managed to get a good line of sight to one, and hesitated a moment too long to get the photo. I waited patiently imitating her "tscht-tscht" and watching the twitching of the 'uluhe until she came out for a look, but once she had a good look at me she immediately retreated back into the 'uluhe for good. You can hear them in the 'uluhe covered 'ohi'a dieback area on the windward side of Saddle Road around the 11-15 mile marker area and sometimes down into Kaumana. I usually get better looks at them in the 'uluhe covered area along Stainback just below Kulani prison, above the first yellow gate where the upper set of failed tropical ash plantations are. They like 'uluhe for some reason. There have also been one or two in the lower part of Ka'ohe GMA this winter - they probably like the ivy vines there.
Leiothrix are common in various places. They're a bit shy, but not too difficult to get a look at. They're nervous and move around a lot, which makes for difficult photos. They like rubus vines and (IIRC) naio. You can find them reliably in certain areas out on the Saddle or in Ka'ohe GMA. The blackberry thickets not quite a mile into Pu'u O'o Trail are a good place to search. There are a number of them around the summit of Kohala. Various other places. A few months back I had to transport an exhausted leiothrix from our building at the summit of Mauna Kea back down to the Saddle.
Other than the Saddle and windward Mauna Loa my knowledge of places to find them is spotty.