Ye-e-ellow Bird, Up High in ...

It’s not the “yellow bird” made famous by the song of the same name, popularized in Hawaii and beyond by Arthur Lyman. That was a yellow macaw from Jamaica.

During our visit to the Waikiki Natatorium yesterday, I wandered away from the wife to snap a Pinchy picture at the monument honoring the 101 soldiers from Hawaii who were killed in World War I. As I returned to her, she waved frantically to me and pointed up into the tree.

There it was – the yellow bird in the picture above. Neither of us had ever seen one like it and it was so darned cooperative, no more than two feet away from my camera, allowing me to snap that close-up.

The occasion reminded me of the time I saw a Common Wax-Eye for the first time at Magic Island (posted a while back), and had to ask for help in identifying it. I got lucky this time, after only 5 minutes of Googling when I got home.

It’s a Yellow-Fronted Canary. A canary? Who knew! Its scientific name is Serinus mozambicus. It’s a member of the finch family, introduced to Oahu around 1964, and has been established on Oahu, particularly in Waikiki at Kapi'olani Park (right across the street from where we were).

How ‘bout that!