This is another in an increasingly long series of distraction diaries. These photographs were taken off the Waianae Coast of Oahu on Saturday. We got to witness some amazing things and I feel fortunate enough to be able to share them with you.
I believe this is a Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) the remarkable thing is that this is a very uncommon bird here. I can't recall seeing one before.
Another shot of the Common Tern. If you have another idea what this bird is please let me know. From my internet searching it seems to match the descriptions nicely.
UPDATE: Matching Mole has identified this bird as an Arctic Tern and I have to agree. Still a fairly rare sighting in Hawaii.
This is a far more common bird here in Hawaii, the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus). There was recently had a very unfortunate incident where a loose dog killed 50 shearwaters at The Nature Conservancy’s Mo‘omomi Beach Preserve on the island of Moloka’i. Very sad.
I noticed a big splash and thought it might be a late season humpback whale but it turned out to be a pod of False Killer Whales (Pseudorca crassidens). This is a large species of dolphin named for it's vague similarity to the orca. The males get up to sixteen feet long. I have only seen them once before so this was a very exciting event for me.
Three or four times we saw them breach high out of the water. I wasn't lucky enough to capture an image of that.
We noticed a group of them gathered on one spot and noticed that they were feeding on a large fish. My crews thought it was a marlin but after looking at the photos I think it might be a swordfish.
Feeding on a large fish
Shearwater picking up the scraps
They lack the bold white markings of the orca.
Recent research indicates that the population of these animals in Hawaiian waters might be decreasing. A survey estimates that there are currently about 120 while a study in the mid "80 found hundreds more.
Later is the day we ran across the far more common Spinner Dolphins.
These beautiful acrobatic small dolphins spend the days nearshore and head out to sea to feed at night.
I hope you have enjoyed this little trip to the waters off the island of Oahu. As always feel free to post your photos and please be good humans.