Hawai'i ~ April 15, 2016

Day 3 ---- Birding on Kaua'i

We headed north to Wailua and turned west on Kuamoo Road. A stop at Opaeka'a Falls produced my first White-tailed Tropicbirds. This impressive bird was another one of my "most-wanted" birds.

A little farther up the road, we set out to hike the Kuamoo-Nounou Trail in search of Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush. Luckily, after a short walk to the bridge over the stream, we heard several of them calling. Eventually, we got great looks at them, but the low light caused all of my photos to be blurry. Here's the least-blurred one.

Mission accomplished, we headed north to Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. When we got there, we found the gate closed due to construction of the road to the lighthouse. We had traveled over 4400 miles but weren't able to go the last quarter-mile to the point. So, we had to check out the birds from a fence on a bluff near the gate. This was the first of many unfortunate things that would somewhat plague the trip.

It was irritating to see up to 30 Red-tailed Tropicbirds flying right over the parking lot that we would have been in had the refuge been open. Ugghhh!

Over time, some of the birds came close enough for some photos. A dark background was required to capture the striking orange-red tail streamers.

A Red-footed Booby colony was below us.

Great looks were had as the birds pulled branches from the nearby trees for their nests.

Great Frigatebirds and Laysan Albatrosses cruised back and forth.

A White-tailed Tropicbird also spent some time overhead.

We left the point and continued west to the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge where we easily found Hawaiian Duck, also known as Koloa.

Also present were Hawaiian Coots and the Hawaiian representative of both Common Gallinule and Black-necked Stilt.

We grabbed lunch in Hanalei and then drove all the way to the end of Highway 560. Along the way, I checked out the Maniniholo Dry Cave at Ha'ena Beach Park.

We returned to Kilauea Point. A few Hawaiian Geese, also known as Nene (NAY-nay), were just beyond the fence.

Later in the afternoon, Jason spotted a Kermadec Petrel zooming by the lighthouse. The bird then made numerous passes overhead, occasionally screaming at and chasing the boobies. The excitement intensified when a second Kermadec joined the first one and they zipped by over and over.

Late in the day, the numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters increased as they returned to their nesting burrows.

When a heavy rain shower enveloped the point, we started the long, clockwise drive around to the west side of the island and up the mountain to Koke'e State Park. One of the Koke'e cabins would be our base for the next two nights.

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Hawai'i ~ April 16, 2016

Day 4 ---- Birding on Kaua'i

First light was spent at the Pu'u O Kila Lookout to watch for any Newell's Sheawaters that might be leaving their burrows for the ocean, but clouds enshrouded most of the area. I did get a mediocre look at an 'Apapane (ah-pah-PAH-nay") in a tree next to the lookout.

In the Koke'e Lodge area, I saw my first 'official' Red Junglefowl with young.

The Alakai Swamp area was our main destination where we would search for the rainforest endemics of Kaua'i. This area is known as one of the wettest places on earth, averaging around 450 inches of rain per year, and it lived up to its name. It rained the whole first day and most of the second. Along the Camp 10 Road, there was an Erckel's Francolin. I steered our SUV down the primitive road around holes and rocks until we couldn't safely go any farther. We parked and hiked to the trailhead and then hiked the Alakai Swamp Trail 1-1/2 miles to the junction with the Pihea Trail. We intended to cross the stream about a quarter-mile farther along the Alakai Swamp Trail to look for Puaiohi (poo-eye-OH-hee), but the water was so deep and rushing so fast that there was no way we would be able to. It would be another unfortunate situation that forced us to concentrate on the area before the stream instead, which was unsuccessful. Finding 'Akeke'e (ah-kay-KAY-ay) and 'Akikiki (ah-key-KEY-key) were long shots at best, and we had no luck with them either. We did manage to find Apapane, Kaua'i 'Amakihi, and Kaua'i 'Elapaio.

We searched the area until early afternoon and then slogged back to our car and back to the cabin to dry out a little before heading down for a look at the Waimea Canyon, also known as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." There, the clouds broke enough for some sun and accompanying rainbows next to the 800-feet high Waipo'o Falls.

Next to the road opposite one of the lookouts, I finally got great looks at a Japanese Bush-Warbler.

We continued down the mountain to Paakahi Point near Hanapepe to do some seawatching. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were moving by in good numbers. A Barn Owl was seen over the adjacent Port Allen Airport. Then at dusk, it was back up the mountain to the cabin.

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Hawai'i ~ April 17, 2016

Day 5 ---- Birding on Kaua'i

We decided to try hiking down the Pihea Trail from the Pu'u O Kila Lookout at the very end of the Koke'e Road, but that idea was dashed when we were confronted with heavy rain pushed by 30 mph winds. Instead, we birded the road between there and the Kalalau Lookout where we found 'Anianiau (ah-knee-ah-knee-OW) in the nasty conditions. We returned to the cabin and packed everything up.

That was when we saw the first patch of blue sky that lasted for about a half-hour. Even then, it was drizzling. I managed to get a fleeting photo of an 'Apapane next to the cabin with the rare blue sky as the background.

We headed down the mountain and back to Paakahi Point near Hanapepe to do more seawatching. Laysan Albatross, Great Frigatebird, and Brown and Red-footed Boobies were seen among the many Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. Jason picked out a few distant Newell's Shearwater, but I wasn't able to find any of them. A small group of African Silverbills were in the nearby brush.

From there, it was back to the Lihue Airport to board an early evening flight to Maui. We spent the night at a motel in Kahului, Maui.

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Hawai'i ~ April 18, 2016

Day 6 ---- Birding on Maui

A quick early morning stop at the Kanaha Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary revealed a Common Tern. On the drive up to Haleakala National Park, numbers of Sky Larks were present. I had planned months ahead to get access into the Waikamoi Preserve in order to have a chance at seeing the rare Maui Parrotbill and the Crested Honeycreeper, also known as the 'Akohekohe (ah-KO-hay-KO-hay). We met Chris Warren, one of the preserve's employees, at Hosmer Grove in the Haleakala National Park. A Field Guides tour was also there. Unfortunately once again, rain was the order of the day. Neither of the birds were even heard, let alone seen. I did manage to see and get poor photos of 'I'iwi (ee-EE-vee) and Hawai'i 'Amakihi.

'I'iwi at Hosmer Grove

Hawai'i 'Amakihi at Hosmer Grove

Hawai'i 'Amakihi at the Waikamoi Preserve

'I'iwi at the Waikamoi Preserve
I also saw the Maui 'Alauahio (al-ah-oh-HEE-oh). We hiked the mile or so back to the car and quickly headed back to the airport to catch our flight to "The Big Island". This island is named Hawai'i, not to be confused with the "state of Hawai'i", which is comprised of the several island chain. It was here that we got some more bad news. We found out from Jack Jeffrey that Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge had now been closed to outside visitors because of the major concern of "Rapid Ohia Disease." R.O.D. is killing the native Ohia trees in about two weeks after being infected. Since many of the rainforest endemics depend on these trees for their flowers' nectar, this could spell the end for these endangered birds. That said, we were now faced with trying to find these birds outside the refuge where they are much less numerous.

The next three nights would be spent in Hilo on Hawai'i.

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Hawai'i ~ April 19, 2016

Day 7 ---- Birding on "The Big Island"

Since we could not get into Hakalau Forest, we drove up the Saddle Road and hiked down the Pu'u O'o Trail to check out the nearby "kipukas." These are areas of forest that are surrounded by lava flows. The morning started out rain free, but occasional drizzle and light rain took over. The first kipuka we checked held Hawai'i 'Amakihi followed by a Hawai'i 'Elepaio. This was a drab immature.

Eventually, we got nice looks at one of the boldly-patterned adults.

'Elepaios found in this area are of the subspecies "ridgwayi", also known as the "volcano" race.

A second, larger kipuka produced Oma'o (oh-MAH-oh) and a dark morph female Hawaiian Hawk.

While enjoying fairly close looks, a light morph male flew in and began copulation!

The male also cooperated for some close photos.

A Kalij Pheasant (kuh-LEEJ) was spotted on the way back out to the trail. Other birds found in the kipukas were Wild Turkey, Japanese Bush-Warbler, Japanese White-eye, Red-billed Leiothrix, 'Apapane, and 'I'iwi.

Back at the car, we headed west to the Ka'ohe Game Management Area and up to Pu'u La'au to look for the Palila (puh-LEE-luh). Several Hawai'i 'Amakihis were present along the road.

I finally got a satisfactory look at a Melodious Laughingthrush singing a song similar to the Palila before it disappeared into the brush. A little farther up, a Pueo (poo-AY-oh), the Hawaiian version of the Short-eared Owl, allowed us great looks.

The great news was that we were on the dry side of Mauna Kea and it wasn't even drizzling! The bad news was that the higher we went, the foggier it got. So, we headed back down to our Hilo motel, dried out, and sat down to a steak dinner in order to help make up for our bad luck over the last few days.

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