Chickens... and Other Birds in Maui

Thinking back on my recent Maui vacation... The early morning sound of chirping birds was one of the things I loved about Hawaii, which is home to many kinds of birds, most of which we don't see in Canada. Soon we'll be opening windows and hearing chirping birds here, too..

I enjoyed the birds... But I was surprised to see so many chickens!

On our first day on Maui - at the brewery tour - we saw a chicken hunting for scraps at the brewery's outdoor patio restaurant.

What is this barnyard chicken doing here in the brewery? I wondered. Is it their mascot?! 

No, I was told. Chickens wander about freely in many parts of Maui. If they come onto your property, you can kill them and eat them, but if they're on public property, they're protected.

Later, as we walked along a shady sidewalk, we noticed more chickens... (They are hard to see in the camouflaging shade...)

.

Would they attack if we approached them? I wondered...

But they ran quickly in and out of the bushes. We never did get very close.

Then we noticed this poster...

Was it a reminder that chickens in the wild are protected in Hawaii?!

I didn't notice any chickens in the area where we were staying - an area that had previously been farm land where sugar cane was grown.

But we did see other birds...

Like this striped bird on the beach walk...

And this egret (which reminds me of our local herons) exploring a hotel garden...

And this one - making himself at home on a hotel lounge chair.

Perched on the chair, he reminds me of egrets we saw sitting on the backs of large black cows on our tour around the island. I wonder if those cattle egrets are the same breed - just found in a different location.