h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good luck to the hadeda! It's good to hear of a bird that's expanding its range.

I guess it would do the work of a rooster or alarm clock.

Hello Minorvogonpoet and Paulh, thanks for the messages. Paulh, I think they're a bit inconsistent for alarm clocks … not always calling at the same time.

They make me think of a very loud bird that I heard in Maui.

You wouldn't happen to have any idea what kind of bird that was paulh?

*resists urge to suggest 'the tookie-tookie bird'.*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSbKF_HimzU

I'm pretty sure it was a Hawaiian Mynah, whose call is sol-mi-do, sol-mi-do, sol-mi-do

When it's right under your bedroom window in the morning, it can sound like a brass orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W03sTA0sDgU

Nice call.

Another option would be the Kauai O'o, except that that species went extinct after 1987 (I heard the loud song in 1994, so have to rule this one out.)

http://www.engadget.com/2018/05/25/kauai-oo-honeyeater-youtube-memorial-ghost-media/

Aw, it's really sad to hear that call of that Hawaiian bird … it's only one species among many on those islands that we lost.

Dmitri, I hate to break it to you … the folks of George of the Jungle are pulling your leg, there are no tooki-tooki birds in Africa.

Mynahs are all over the world now. They're considered a problem invasive species over here. They are aggressive and displace many of our native birds from their hole nests ...

Chances are, they wake up South Africaners who are trying to sleep.

Willem, I don't think anybody has ever accused cartoonists Jay Ward and Bill Scott of scientific accuracy, ever. They were also the inventors of upsidaisium, the anti-gravity mineral. But then, George of the Jungle was also friends with a gorilla who spoke with an Oxford accent...

A wonderfully funny young lady I knew back in the day came from Hawaii and studied in St Louis. She had me in stitches one evening with her imitation of the 'tookie-tookie bird', which she claimed to know personally. I think this was inspired by Midwestern US ignorance of all things Hawaiian...

I enjoyed Maui and the big island of Hawaii. The only birds I actually saw were some Ne ne's, and something that may have been a swallow or sparrow -- we were eating some island specialty sandwich in an open-air space enclosed by a tent, and the little birds would freely flit in and out of it.

QWe have some perfectly nice birds in my area, too, and I don't want to slight them. Cardinals, Goldfinchs, and Blue jays certainly have the primary colors covered.

I think I should check out George of the Jungle. The cartoon never appeared on TV here. It seems the lead character was based on George Eiferman, Mr. Universe back in the day …

Wow Paulh, you saw some Nene's, how fortunate!

Colourful birdies are cool, but the brownish birdies are fine as well!

Sparrows made a nest under the overhang that shelters my porch from the elements.

When I was in Maui, I also saw at least one mongoose.

I noticed that a lot of palm trees had tin sheets wrapped around them. Someone explained to me that this was to deter rats from climbing up to the branches on top.