Mongoose...

When Linda and I first saw this creature close to Diamond Head Crater we both mentioned it looked like a large ferret but did not know what it was. We later found out it was a mongoose and a not very well liked critter. The mongoose was introduced to Hawaii nearly a century ago was to control the rat problem that was destroying the sugar cane. Well the rats slept during the day and did their dirty work at night while the mongoose was out during the day and slept at night. What the mongoose did do was destroy the bird population on all the islands that we visited except for Kaua'i because they are not on that island.

Most of the birds were ground nesting birds and the mongoose took advantage of that along the way almost making the Nene (Hawaii's state bird) extinct. On the islands that were populated with mongoose we only seen doves, pigeons and the wild chickens on a regular basis. There was another bird or two occasionally.

This was the only four legged wildlife we encountered in Hawaii except for the wild bore. We did see three of those but by the time I changed lens the moment had passed without a shot. I did not find any other four leg critters at Hawaii when I researched it before the trip and if there is any I missed them.