I see the beginning of the day creeping out of the darkness, and daylight starts to spill across my hotel room.  I hear the surf, thinking that’s what has woken me.  I listen again.  It’s a rooster crowing.  That’s right, I’m on Kauai.

Grabbing a cup of coffee, I head out to my lanai (I’d call it a balcony if I was anywhere else  but Hawaii), and settle in with a stack of magazines.  It’s a pleasant way to ease into the day, and I could have actually gotten a lot of things done – if it weren’t for the darn rooster in the tree.  Where else but Kauai could you see a rooster in a tree?!  He, and several that were flocking about on the ground seemed intent on having a spirited conversation at 6:30 am.

Thousands of wild chickens, including the six roosters below my lanai, call Kauai home.  Originally a food source for the island’s Polynesian settlers they now seem to outnumbered residents.  With few natural predators, they pretty much go and do as they please.

It’s not uncommon to see them wandering alongside the highway, near the pool at a resort hotel, or hopping across a path leading to the beach.  Or in a tree outside your room.

Instead of thinking of it as annoying, just make a mind shift.  It’s their way of saying “Aloha, welcome to the islands.”

Photo credit:  Mary Jo Manzanares