10 Birds That Might Steal Your Breakfast in Maui

1. Sparrow
2. Myna
3. Red Crested Cardinal
4. Swan
5. Flamingo
6. Parrot
7. Cattle Egret
8. Black Crowned Night Heron
9. Penguin
10. Nene

  You need to always be on the lookout and whatever you do, do not go back to the buffet and leave your plate unattended.  Think that an extra slice of toast would go well with your bacon and eggs?  Think again!  By the time you return, there might be nothing left on your plate.  If there is anything left it has already been worked over by tiny beaks and feet.  This is a list of birds to keep an eye out for.  Our experience was at the Hyatt Regency Maui, but you should be cautious anywhere on this Hawaiian island.

1 ) Sparrow

Sparrows are the most abundant and never miss a chance to share in the buffet.  As soon as someone gets up from their seat, sparrows descend onto their plate and start picking through the leftovers.  At the bottom of this post are 2 videos of sparrows caught in the act.

2)  Myna

Myna birds fight their way through all the sparrows to get at your plate.  One of these birds can clear your plate faster than a whole team of sparrows.  In the video at the bottom of this post you can see a myna easily steal the majority of a plate of eggs.

3)  Red-Crested Cardinal

This is the prettiest and politest of the breakfast thieves.  They were not as bold as the sparrows and myna and we only spotted them near the tables outside.

4)  Swan

The name of the breakfast area was called Swan Court. The swans kept watch in the water just a few steps away from some of the tables.  There wasn't much preventing them from coming over to join you for breakfast.

5)  Flamingo

On the lawn just behind Swan Court is where the flamingos spend their day.  Flamingos tend to prefer things like shrimp, which makes them more fond of the dinner menu than the breakfast one.  Be careful as you don't want to be the first to discover that they also love hash browns.

6)  Parrot

This parrot was standing guard at the entrance to the buffet.  Unfortunately, he was in a cage so he couldn't just go over and make himself a plate.  The closest he came to tasting breakfast was nipping at the sticky fingers that children stuck into his cage.

7)  Cattle Egret

These egrets were always walking about on the front grounds of the hotel.  They were brought to Hawaii because of their habit of following cattle around and eating all of the bugs around them.  We were not bothered by any bugs while eating our breakfast.  Did this mean that some egrets were nearby possibly eyeing one of our nice desserts?

8)  Black-Crowned Night Heron

This heron stood very still by the waters edge during our meal.  This is how they hunt for food.  When an unsuspecting fish swims by they strike.  We wondered what might happen if we floated out a plate of buttered toast and jam?

9)  Penguin

The hotel has many birds in it's lobby, one of which is the African Penguin.  While the penguins have a regularly scheduled feeding time, you never know when one might feel like enjoying an early morning snack.  The penguins tend to follow each other around so if one escaped and headed to the buffet you can bet that one or two more would be right behind it.

10) Nene

The Nene is the official Hawaiian Goose.  It is a cousin of the Canadian Goose.  While it is not impossible that a Nene might steal your breakfast, they are a very rare bird.  One of us spotted a Nene briefly as our tour bus hurtled down the side of Haleakala.  We wish one day to have a closer encounter with one of these birds.  So next time we are in Maui this is an open invitation to all the Nene.  Feel free to try and steal our breakfast!

Below are 2 videos of sparrows enjoying blueberry muffins and a Myna flying away with a mouthful of egg.

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Map of Our World
Swan Court

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Post # 59

Maui Mongoose

Location: Hana, Hawaii
Address: Waianapanapa State Park
Date: Jan 2011
Website: dlnr.hawaii.gov

As we pulled into the parking lot for views of the eastern Maui coast our driver stated,  "If you want to come with me I will be at the side of the parking lot feeding the mongoose."  Who the?  What the? Come again?  We fancy ourselves to know a thing or two about animals and where they are located.  We would expect to find mongoose in Africa or fighting a cobra in India, but not in Hawaii.  At first we were not sure we had heard the driver correctly so we followed him to the edge of the parking lot.  Sure enough he threw down some food and out from the bushes crept a small asian mongoose.  The mongoose snatched up the food and ran back into the bushes for cover.  Again our driver threw some more food and yet another mongoose came out and took its food to enjoy under one of the parked cars.
  It seems that in the past Maui had a bit of a rat problem and someone thought it was a good idea to bring in some mongoose to get rid of the rats.  From our understanding the mongoose themselves have now become a bit of a menace.  We can't say we blame them as after our first visit to Maui we never wanted to leave either.

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Map of Our World
Maui Mongoose

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Post # 23

King's Village

Location: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Address: 131 Kaiulani Ave
Date: June 2010


As we were working our way through the crowds of Waikiki Beach, we happened upon King's Village.  It is named after the Hawaiian Royal Palace Guard for King Kalakaua back in the 1800s, not for the Burger King in front of which the guards perform.  Near the end of each day the King's Guard lower the Hawaiian flag and perform some precision drill routines.  As luck would have it we passed by close to the performance time.  This allowed us to briefly look around the shopping center and then wait for the show to begin.  The shopping center itself is nicely themed like little streets from Honolulu's past.
  The guards in their nineteenth century uniforms finally emerged and the show began.

Two guards performed with near perfect precision.  They spun their rifles, passed the rifles back and forth and bounced the butts of their guns off the ground during their routine.  The guards then proceeded to lower the flag for the day.  When all was said and done, the tourists trapped in the Burger King were free to go and we headed back into the crowded Waikiki streets with a smile.

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Map of Our World
King's Village

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Post # 13