One of my closest friends, Beth picked me up from the airport with open arms and the most beautiful pink and white orchid lei. I’m touched by such a fabulous way to begin a vacation.
It’s evening and very dark so I can’t see anything but the winding road as we make our way to the condominium. After ten hours and a five hour layover, I can’t wait to lay my head on a pillow. The exhaustion from traveling Ade me sleep well but the excitement from being here and the roosters crowing, I’m awakened and I’m not annoyed, I’m grateful. As I look out my window I can see hundreds of parakeets flying from every direction singing in unison, like a choir. Beth found this explanation for the magnitude of birds in Modern Farmer magazine published- January 18, 2018 by Sara Novak:
The rose-ringed parakeet is threatening every crop on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai and they’re multiplying fast. On Kauai, the birds initially went wild in 1968, after workers at a bed-and-breakfast accidentally released a pair. Those two eventually attracted and bred others, including escapees from homes destroyed by 1982s Hurricane Iwa. Their numbers swelled from fewer than two-hundred in the mid-1990s to approximately one thousand by the dawn of the new millennium, today, theres more five thousand. That growth curve will only steepen, given the parakeets’ rapid reproduction rate and twenty to thirty year lifespan, coupled with the island’s hospitable climate and ample food.
According to Thomas Kaiakapu, Kauai wildlife manager at the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources: “Left unchecked, the population could reach ten-thousand in the next five years.”
These beautiful birds are an unbelievable sight to see, even though they are the countries nemesis.
Come afternoon, We did a little shopping and then headed over to watch the sunrise. This truly in paradise.
