Month: October 2023

Print this entry

October 1st I was still in Waikiki, but preparing to leave for Kauai. This is when I had to leave Dad and continue with the group for the rest of the tour. Our hope that Dad could rejoin was. in vain, given his need to quarantine even after testing negative. I had Little Pig with me for company. After we were seated on the plane he made some new friends.

It was a very short flight. We landed at Lihue International Airport. It is a very small airport and completely open air. Our guide Mandy had her van already there so it was an easy trip to the Sheraton Kauai Resort in Poipu where we were staying.

By 2:15 that afternoon we were at the Kīlauea Point NWR. It was a scenic spot where we could look down on 75 Red-footed Boobies roosting in the trees. Among them was a Brown Booby, Red-tailed and White-tailed Tropicbirds and Great Frigatebirds. Later at ‘Ohiki Rd. we saw the Hawaiian Goose and the Hawaiian Duck. The duck species tend to hybridize with Mallards so you need an expert to separate the hybrids from the pure Hawaiian Ducks.

Monday morning, October 2, was another warm, sunny day! After picking up a few non-native birds at a ball field we drove up into the hills. Our first stop was the ‎⁨Waimea Canyon State Park⁩. There were beautiful views of the canyon that reminded me of the Black Hills.

Next we stopped at the Kōke’e State Park–Pu’u O Kila Lookout. There was a beautiful view but we were looking in the trees and bushes for birds. We found the Kauai Elepaio, the Apapane and the Anianiau. The Kauai Elepaio is a small flycatcher of forested habitats on Kauai. Although it’s population is increasing it is still rated as vulnerable. The Apapane is a Hawaiian honeycreeper found on all of the larger islands. It is not an endangered bird. The Apapane is usually seen feeding on the ōhi’a Lehua. The Anianiau is a small Hawaiian honeycreeper of high elevation native forests, only found on Kauai. It is also listed as vulnerable.

We ended the day at Salt Pond Beach Park. This was a nearly dry pond surrounded by reddish mud. The local Hawaiians were making salt in the center using an age old method. The mud attracted shorebirds. We got back to the hotel in time for an octopus dinner and some relaxation by the fire.

October 3rd.

By 7:30am we were in the Nounou Forest Reserve on a wooded trail. We saw 14 naturalized birds and only 2 native birds. Through-out our tour we were seeing many naturalized birds. EBird descibes them:

Naturalized: Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals.

What we were most interested in was Hawaiian endemic birds.

Endemic: Native to or limited to a certain region.

But you take the good with the not so good. After lunch we went to Poʻipū Beach Park and found more naturalized species as well as a Great Frigatebird. By 5:20 pm we had boarded our plane for the Big Island.

Print this entry

Dad and I began birding in Honolulu on September 26th. Our last report was September 28th at 4:30 pm. We had a total of 13 birds, 3 of these were wild and the rest were introduced to the island. 9 of these species were life birds.

On Friday morning, September 29th I joined the Wildside tour and Dad continued to bird locally on his own. We were hopeful that he would soon test negative and join the tour.

The red and blue “flames” are birding locations we visited. Blue flames are incidental reports and red flames are designated eBird hotspots.

The Wildside tour recapped many of the birds that Dad and I had already seen. The first thing on the 29th we headed up into the hills to Manoa Cliffs Trail.

Here we saw 12 species, including our first Hawaiian honey-creeper. Here is an excerpt from Britannica:

Hawaiian honeycreeper, any member of a group of related birds, many of them nectar-eating, that evolved in the forests of the Hawaiian Islands and are found only there. Recent evidence from osteology, behaviour, plumage, breeding biology, and genetics has led to a consensus that the Hawaiian honeycreepers are closely related to the cardueline finches, which include birds such as goldfinches, canaries, siskins, and crossbills. Most of the species are called by native names (see amakihi; apapane; iiwi; mamo). Habitat destruction and the introduction of foreign birds and mammals have led to the extinction of at least 8 of the original 23 species; most of the survivors are endangered. Numerous subspecies are known.

The native names are very confusing! In the field I simply called out their size and color. This one, the Oahu Amakihi, is a small yellow bird with a down-curved bill. This was our only sighting of this bird and I failed to get a photo. Here is one from the web. Scroll for more birds!

We drove back to Honolulu and watched some of the local birds near the city center.

The preening of the terns was a mating ritual and not long after this shot the birds were mating. The slide of the roadside shows dense undergrowth. Our guide, Eddie told us that none of the vegetation on Oahu is native, it has all been brought in one way or another.

On Saturday, 9/30, the tour took off bright and early. Dad stayed behind again but went out and did some birding on his own. He got some nice photos in the park very near the hotel.

Meanwhile, the tour group traveled up the east side of the island. We stopped at various spots for specific birds. We enjoyed the scenery along the way.

Stay tuned for more exciting episodes!

Print this entry

Part 1

We had a great start to the trip thanks to Doug and Lisa. We spent Sunday afternoon and night at their house and had a fabulous dinner. Doug offered to watch our car for the duration of our trip. All we had to do was to take a limo to the airport in the morning. Our flight was at 9:30am so there was no rush.

Click on the photos- each one is actually a slideshow.

In the morning we got up early and walked out on a pier near the hotel. There were early morning swimmers and surfers here and there. We checked out the local park and ticked off some local birds, most of them introduced species, and then found ourselves near the Honolulu Aquarium. It was nice, compact building, with very nice displays of local sea life. Little Pig really enjoyed it!

Later that afternoon we walked south along the row of hotels and shops. There were hawkers along the way for everything from face cream to cruises. We stopped at one spot offering tours of Oahu. It was with smaller buses than the Greyhound size that you saw a lot of but more substantial than the little trolleys that gave an overview of the city area. So we booked a full day tour for the next day. Our guide, Eddie, took us on a very informative tour around the island. He is one half Hawaiian and grew up in the area now being developed as multi-million dollar mansions. He pointed out Jackie Chan’s home, visible from the street, and others, like Barak Obama’s home, which were more secluded. He was especially fond of pointing out the famous surfing locations and included stories of famous surfers and their adventures. He offered surfing lessons to anyone who would show up at the beach at 5:30am- only 1$ per hour! The tour included stops at the Dole Pineapple Plantation (we saw mostly the gift shop) and later the beautiful Waimea Botanical Garden.

What’s a visit to Waikiki without a glass-bottomed boat tour? This was a one hour spin out into the ocean looking for sea turtles, dolphins, fish and anything else of interest. Again, the guide was informative and there were lots of references to Gilligan’s Island and Magnum, P.I. We saw some fish and turtles, no dolphins. The other tour we passed was a group of snorkelers. Another highlight was lunch after the tour. The guides recommended a few Hawaiian restaurants that were not geared toward tourists. We walked to the restaurant and took the bus back to the hotel.

We got back to our hotel and switched rooms to the one that the tour had booked for us. We relaxed before going to “The Deck” for the dinner with the other tour participants and our guides, Chris and Mandy. We knew Chris from a tour we did last year. Mandy is the Hawaii bird expert that we were meeting for the first time.

Stay tuned for more episodes!!!