Saturday's Critters # 468

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

These are images from our last two days in Kauai. One of my favorite places to visit was the Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge and home of the Kilauea Point Lighthouse. Reservations are needed to visit this wildlife refuge. I made reservations a month in advance for the morning of Sept 29th and the afternoon of Sept 30th. Over the years a remarkable 27 species of Seabirds have been observed at Kilauea Point. 

Click on photos for better viewing!

1. It is the best place to view sea birds, like the Red-footed Booby, Great Frigatebird,  Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, White-tailed Tropicbirds, Brown Booby and the Nene Goose. 

2. A tree on the bluff decorated with the Red-footed Boobies. 

Below several looks at the adult and juvenile Red-footed Boobies. Most of the adults have the red feet and are white with black flight feathers. They can have pale bluish bills. The juveniles are similar to the young Brown Boobies. 

3. The colony of Red-footed Boobies at Kilauea Point is the largest colony in the Hawaiian Islands. All the tiny white dots on the bluff are the Red-footed Boobies, you can not see the grayish looking juveniles mixed in, the numbers of birds seen were amazing. 

4. Below both the White-tailed Tropicbirds and the Red-tailed Tropicbirds are breeders at Kilauea.  There have been 350 pairs of the Red-tailed Tropicbirds nesting at the refuge. 

5. The Brown Boobies have been seen roosting on a little island seen from the cliff top above. The Brown Booby has a chocolate brown head and a white belly. Most nest on the ground in small colonies. 

The Great Frigatebirds have been seen using the island too. These birds tend to chase other birds trying to steal their food. 

6. The juvenile Red-footed Booby, was sitting on a structure next to the Lighthouse. It did not seem to mind us walking by on the path right below. 

7. The Wedge-tailed Shearwaters nest at the refuge using burrows in the ground. I found a few chicks nestled in the burrows. 

8. The Wedge-tailed Shearwater are the most numerous species on the refuge, it is estimated 8,000-15,000 breeding pairs. 

9. The Great Frigatebird below, it is amazing to watch their aerial performances. 

10. The Nene Geese have one of the largest concentrations at the Kilauea Point wildlife refuge. Their population is increasing and they are doing well at the refuge. 

11. Views of the Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge and lighthouse. 

I hope you enjoyed the Kauai birds and posts. Now, maybe I can catch up with more recent outings and trips.

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am also linking up to Anni's blog party found here I'd Rather B Birding   Anni always has some beautiful birds to be seen on her blog, check it out! Also, I am also linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.