SBtv

Over the years, there was a surprising variety of fauna that made their home, albeit temporarily, near the old Kane`ohe house, presumably because it abutted a sizable tract of wetlands that was left, for the most part, unattended. Wild pigs, escaped cows, field mice, mongoose and good number of birds (java finches, doves, Kentucky cardinals, white vented shamas, chickens, pheasants and a peahen) came through at one time or another.

The chickens came down while the H3 Freeway was being built, to escape the noise and heavy equipment. One rooster spent evenings in a small tree immediately outside of the bathroom. If one were to use the bathroom at night and turn on the light, the rooster would crow tentatively until the light went out again. On, crow. Off, stop. On, crow. Off, stop.

To make things interesting for Starbuck, I set up a bird feeder for the finches. Once filled, a large flock of finches would swoop in and raid the feeder in a piranha-like frenzy, until it was depleted. Their voracity made me wonder how they were surviving prior to finding the feeder. Starbuck would sit by the jalousie window and peer through the wood slats, watching with great intensity until the feeding was over. Sometimes, he'd start shaking with excitement (or was it his try at mind control, like "Men Who Stare at Goats"?).

The pheasant family (hen and two chicks) came later, and picked up the feed that was carelessly strewn about during the morning’s feeding frenzy. The hen was wounded and was missing a foot, presumably from a cat attack. She was always wary and managed to keep track of the chicks. She knew Starbuck was lurking in the shadows (I think by his heavy breathing) but nothing to get overly excited about – only a voyeur and not a predator.

The peahen also presumably came down from the hills due to the H3 construction. She was fairly regular in her routine: feed in the morning, wander around the neighborhood and then come back for the evening. At precisely 4:00p each day (unless there were predators playing basketball in the cul de sac), she would start to walk up the driveway of my flag lot, hop on the fence and then hop on the roof. She would then proceed to walk across the roof, up to the ridge and then down to the opposite eave. From there, she would push off and fly into a nearby tree.

Starbuck was usually doing something else but when he heard her footsteps on the roof (and, yes, quite audible), he would stop, look up and follow the sound. From his vantage point, he couldn’t quite see her reach the tree so it was always a sound of mystery. I'm not sure he connected the sound with the peahen he watched, as if on an Outdoor Channel feature, in the mornings.