With Hakalau Forest off limits, we headed back to the Pu'u O'o Trail for another search of the nearby kipukas. Once again, the morning was off and on again drizzle and rain. After being fairly elusive, an Oma'o finally allowed me to get a half-decent photo.
Another Hawai'i 'Elepaio posed nicely.
About 2 miles down, the trail entered another kipuka. Just inside it, Jason heard and then found a Hawai'i Creeper. I was pretty lucky to get a fairly good photo in poor light showing the diagnostic black mask and light throat.
A birding tour group that we met on Maui told us that they had seen an 'Akepa (uh-KAY-pah) at the tall lava flow at the end of Powerline Road, so we continued down the trail towards the road. This photo shows a good example of a kipuka.
After hiking the four miles down the trail and onto the road, we reached the 30-feet high wall of lava rock. And right on cue, it started pouring and continued for the 45 minutes we were there. We looked in vein for the 'Akepa, gave up due to the nasty conditions, and hiked the five miles up the Powerline and Saddle Roads back to the car. We also missed the Akiapola'au (uh-KEY-uh-po-luh-OW), also known as the "Aki" for short. The numbers of both of these birds outside Hakalua Forest have really nose-dived in recent years.
We returned to the Ka'ohe Game Management Area and, this time, found the Palila before reaching Pu'u La'au.
Several Hawai'i 'Amakihis were also present there.
This was the only shot I got of the pale-headed "Mauna Kea" form of Hawai'i 'Elepaio, which was near the hunter's cabin.
An Erckel's Francolin waddled along the road on the way back down.
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