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U.S.A. -- Hawaii –
Kaua’i & Oahu
November 2001
by Pat McKay
This is an account of a short vacation which my husband Alasdair and I
had in Hawaii in November 2001. It was not primarily a birding
vacation, but I took as many opportunities as possible to look at, and
for, the different species of birds in Hawaii.
We were based primarily at Waikiki on Oahu, but made a three-day
excursion to Kauai in
the middle of our holiday. We arrived at Honolulu just before
midnight on November 9th after a long flight from Toronto, and were too
tired to do anything except collapse into our beds. Still being
jet-lagged and operating on Nova Scotia time, we awoke early the next
morning and went out for a walk along Waikiki beach towards Diamond
Head. This easy stroll gave us excellent views of most of the
common birds around the Honolulu area, many of which are extremely
colourful and tropical looking, and most of which were introduced by
man.
Our accommodation was very close to Honolulu zoo and Kapiolani Park,
which was a pleasant open space with lots of grass and trees and
flowering bushes, and including several large banyan trees - wonderful
specimens which had put down a lot of aerial roots, which had grown and
thickened into subsidiary trunks so that the tree covered a large area
of ground. The banyan trees were covered with red fruits looking
a bit like cherries, which were attracting a lot of attention from the
birds. There was a lot of bird song in the air, and lots of birds
flying about from grass to trees.
The first thing I noticed was the lack of European Starlings.
Their place was taken by the Common Mynahs, a chunky dark brown bird
about the size of a robin, with yellow about the eye, and yellow bills
and feet. They had a conspicuous white wing patch as they flew
away. They were very noisy and gregarious, and very common, often
seen searching for insects in the grass.
There were European House Sparrows, but mixed in with them, and almost
as common, were flocks of House Finches. Besides the usual feral
pigeon or Rock Dove there were two other species of the dove family;
the Spotted Dove and the much smaller Zebra Dove, both of which were
very common and easily seen in gardens and courtyards of the hotels, as
well as in Kapiolani Park.
The cardinal family was also well represented with two extremely common
species, the Northern Cardinal (the same bird that we are seeing in
increasing numbers in Nova Scotia) and the slightly smaller but very
striking Red Crested Cardinal, which was introduced from South
America. The adult of this species is grey above and white below,
with a distinctive red head and breast and a crest.
Another common introduced species was the Java Sparrow, which were most
easily seen in flocks foraging on the grass in the park. About
the same size as a house sparrow, the Java Sparrows have a grey body, a
black tail and cap on the head, and a large white patch on the
cheek. The bill and legs are pinkish red. Also commonly
seen searching for worms in the grass was the Pacific Golden
Plover. The banyan trees proved very attractive to Japanese
White-eyes, small warbler sized olive green birds with a very
conspicuous white eye ring, Yellow Fronted Canaries, and Red Vented
Bulbuls. As we walked through the park closer to the crater of
the extinct volcano which makes up Diamond Head, we saw Fairy Terns
putting on graceful flying displays overhead.
All of these birds were easy to see, and many of them were new species
for us, but I really wanted to see some of the birds which can only be
seen in Hawaii. We took a three-day trip to the island of Kauai
to try to spot some of these endemic species. Our vacation
package included a hotel room and a rental car - public transportation
on Kauai is more or less non-existent, so a rented vehicle is more or
less essential if you want to go anywhere and see anything other than
the beach at your resort. As we drove, we saw lots of Cattle
Egrets, which were extremely common in the fields, and also a Hawaiian
Coot and a Hawaiian Gallinule swimming in a quiet stretch of
river. We arrived just in time to have a snorkel in the sea in
front of our hotel as the sun was setting. There were plenty of
fish to see, which made the snorkelling interesting, but the coral came
right to the shoreline so it was not so pleasant for anyone just
wanting to swim. We bought an excellent chicken dinner from a
small stall nearby, and ate it sitting on our balcony. A Pacific
Golden Plover was searching the grass just below us, while Japanese
White Eyes and Northern Cardinals were in the trees round about us.
The next day we drove straight to Kauai's spectacular northern shore -
the Na Pali Coast. This part of the island is famous for the
eleven mile hiking route called the Kalalau Trail. This is a
narrow coastal pathway that winds its way round the sides of
precipitous mountains and drops down into hidden valleys, then climbs
up and around the next cliff face. The views are spectacular, but
the path is rough and very muddy, which makes it dangerous on the steep
slopes encountered. It is an extremely challenging walk, and not
one to be undertaken lightly as it cannot be completed in a single day,
so adventurous people wanting to walk its full length must be prepared
to camp.
We decided to tackle only the first two miles of the Kalalau Trail,
starting from Kee Beach at the end of the road in Haena, and walking to
Hamakapiana Beach. The notice board at the start indicated would
take us two hours to do this section, which we did not believe when we
started out, but turned out to be a fairly accurate estimate of the
time needed. Initially the path was clear, and easy to walk, but
it soon became more and more muddy, and slipping was a constant concern
on the steep route. The views were fabulous however, so we
persevered until we reached Hamakapiana Beach, which had gorgeous white
sands and a cave. We were directed by another hiker to turn off
the main trail and walk inland up a valley to see Hamakapiana Falls, a
spectacular waterfall a further hour's walk inland from the
beach. The path continued to climb slowly as we proceeded up the
valley, and it was as muddy as the main route. The mountains in
this part of Kauai have a very high rainfall, and it is the run-off of
this rainwater higher up which causes all the mud. It did not
rain at all while we were there, but the path seemed to get muddier and
muddier the further we went, until eventually we were so muddy it no
longer mattered.
It was this section of the walk that was the most interesting from a
botanical and an ornithological point of view. The forest was
very lush and tropical looking, and the guava trees had ripe fruit
which was just falling to the ground, so we ate several delicious
guavas. Alasdair found a huge avocado pear, which we ate for our
lunch, and also a large lemon shaped member of the citrus family,
bigger and with a much rougher skin than a lemon. We ate it too,
but it was very sour. There were several magnificent stands of
tall bamboo as well. There was a lot of bird song, but finding
the birds in all the tropical vegetation proved difficult and we were a
bit concerned that we would run out of time to reach the falls if we
stopped too much to look for birds, so I am sure we missed several
species. I did manage to see and identify the White Rumped
Sharma, a bird with a most attractive song. It is about the size
of a blue jay, glossy black with a long tail, white rump, and a
chestnut breast. We also saw a Melodious Laughing Thrush, a bird
a bit like a robin, but rusty brown in colour with a white eyering and
yellow bill and legs.
The waterfall was amazing when we eventually reached it. The
water fell hundreds of feet straight down towering vertical
cliffs. High on the cliff sides, and gliding through the air in
front of the waterfall were tiny white birds, which, on inspection
through binoculars proved to be White Tailed Tropic Birds. These
spectacular birds have two of their tail feathers elongated into
magnificent trailing streamers, which stretch out behind them as they
fly. We ate lunch watching the tropicbirds, and then set off on
the long muddy tramp back. We had a short pause at Hanakapiana
beach, where we got a nice close look at a Wandering Tattler, a
medium-sized shorebird that is a common winter visitor to the Hawaiian
Islands.
When we finally reached the starting point again at Kee beach, we were
so hot and tired and muddy that I did not bother to change into a
swimsuit, but just jumped in fully dressed and tried to remove the
worst of the sticky red mud in the sea. We did some snorkelling,
and found that it was a really good site for fish, which were
plentiful, large and colourful. On coming out of the water, we
met a female Peafowl, which seemed very much at home, as well as large
numbers of Red Jungle Fowl. These look very like a domestic hen,
but I was assured that wild populations do exist on Kauai, and indeed
you could see them more or less everywhere. All the ones we came
across however were extremely tame, and were obviously used to handouts
from tourists.
After our energetic walk, we drove back to Kilauea Point, which is a
nature reserve, and where we hoped to see Laysan Albatrosses, and
Red-Footed Boobies, amongst others. Unfortunately, our hike had
taken too long, and we arrived just after the reserve had closed for
the day. There were lots of sea birds flying around the cliffs
however, and we did manage to identify the Red-Footed Boobies, and also
Great Frigatebirds, but no albatrosses.
Since we had still not succeeded in seeing any endemic birds, the next
day we decided to drive to Koke'e State Park, and the Alaka'i Swamp,
where there were several trails leading to areas which were supposed to
be good for native bird species. This is a popular part of the
island, and there were a lot of people at the start of the trail, which
was also supposed to be good for seeing Nene or Hawaiian Geese.
The views were spectacular along the north coast of Kauai as we started
off, but the fog started to drift in and blotted out the distant views
of the mountains. We were standing at one viewpoint admiring the
magnificent view out to sea, when I was surprised by a Nene, which flew
past us and out into the fog over the ocean. Large numbers of
tourists set out on the trail, but as on the day before, the path was
muddy and steep, and it kept on getting muddier and muddier for the
first mile, so that most folk turned back, especially since there were
no distant vistas to admire thanks to the fog. This was
fortunate, since it meant that by the time we reached the best bits for
birding, there were very few people around, and most of them were
birders too.
After climbing an excruciatingly muddy hill, the path descended steeply
into a valley, and a magnificent boardwalk materialized to keep you out
of the mud. There were forest birds singing all around, and with
patience we began to see and identify some of them. The commonest
species was the Apapane, a small crimson bird with black wings and tail
and a slightly curved bill. We also saw Anianiau (also know as
Lesser Amakihi), a small yellow bird with a curved bill. Both of
these birds are nectar and insect eaters. Then we found a Kauai
Elepaio, a charming little bird with a cocked-up tail a bit like a
gnatcatcher or a long-tailed wren. These were all very
interesting birds, and all 'lifers' for me, but the one species which I
had really set my heart on finding, was the I'iwi. These are
described as vermilion red birds slightly bigger than the Apapane, but
with salmon pink legs, and a long downwards curved salmon pink
bill. It has a loud harsh call, "like a rusty hinge" (which is
where I would guess its name comes from).
We walked along the boardwalk towards the Alaka'i Swamp area, and
several times heard sounds exactly like rusty hinges, but in spite of
much searching, we did not manage to see anything. We ate our
lunches sitting on the boardwalk, surrounded by several of the other
bird species, but still no I'iwi. Eventually, and with great
reluctance, I decided that we could not afford to spend any more time
in search of this avian ventriloquist, so we made our way back along
the boardwalk. I had almost given up all hope, when, rounding a
corner I saw a splash of something red feeding on a low bush with
purple trumpet shaped flowers. For a second I thought that it was
just another Apapane (just?? an Apapane? - but we had seen
lots of these birds by now), and then the sun caught its feathers in an
incredible almost incandescent glow, and in that heart-stopping moment
I realized that there we had a real live I'iwi, pink feet and bill and
all.
Of course, once we had seen it, the I'iwi was very cooperative, and we
were able to watch it for several minutes from close quarters. A
second bird was also spotted in the same area, but it did not come out
into the open for a clear view. Elated by our success, we climbed
back up out of the valley, and prepared to face the muddy walk back to
the car park. We had just started back along the trail when we
met two people, who were being followed closely by a pair of
ridiculously tame Erckel's Francolins, a pheasant sized brown game
bird, which has white streaks on its breast. I had half a brown
bread sandwich left over from my lunch, which I fed to the Francolins,
and they came and took it from my hands - clearly they were used to
tourists.
Then finally, just as we were struggling through the last of the
quagmires back to the car park, yet another I'iwi! We had just
time to make it to Poipu beach in the south of the island to see the
sun set. Poipu beach is a very popular place to watch the sun
set, so there was a small crowd of folk, some in the water and some
just standing around, come to see the ball of fire sink into the
ocean. I noticed a small area right in the middle of the beach
which was fenced off from the crowds, and there appeared to be a large
rock in the middle of the fenced off area which was attracting a lot of
attention from passers-by. It wasn't until the "rock" suddenly
lifted its head and sneezed loudly that I realized that it was in fact
a monk seal, an endangered species. According to the notice
posted on the fencing, only 16 monk seals had been seen around Kauai
that season, so we were very lucky.
Our final half-day on Kauai produced only two new species, a
Ring-Necked Pheasant, and a Hawaiian or Black-Necked Stilt. The
stilt was feeding in a small pond close to Poipu beach, which we
revisited in hopes of seeing a monk seal again (we didn't), and to
check out the snorkelling, which was excellent.
Back on Oahu, we spent a lot of time in the sea snorkelling off Waikiki
beach, but the best site of all is Hanauma Bay, reached by bus in 20
minutes from Waikiki. The fish here are large, colourful, and
extremely plentiful, and we also saw several turtles at close range,
swimming and feeding in the water. There are birds too, but
mostly species we had already seen, the exception being a small flock
of common waxbills, tiny grey brown birds with a red bill and eye patch.
Our final birding expedition was to try once more to see Laysan
Albatrosses, which are known to breed on the most westerly point of
Oahu, at Kaena Point. Kaena Point is not an easy place to get to,
as the road stops short of it on each side of the point. We
approached it from the West side, by driving as far as the road would
permit at Yokohama beach, and then walking the easy to follow track out
to the point. It was a brisk 40 minute walk, but could easily
take longer as the views were interesting and we would have liked to
have lingered in several places en route, but the day was ending and I
did want to see my first albatrosses. We were delighted to find
at least 14 Laysan Albatrosses on the ground when we got out to the
point. It was the very start of the nesting season, and as far as
we could determine, although the birds were paired off, no nesting had
actually started. We did observe some of their courtship rituals
- beak clapping and mutual preening - which were very
interesting. A bonus was finding the nesting burrows of the
Wedge-Tailed Shearwater in the same area as the albatrosses, and some
of the burrows had birds inside.
On our way back to our car we saw two more species; a Northern
Mockingbird was quite a surprise to see, but apparently they are found
on all the main Hawaiian Islands. The other species was the
Warbling Silverbill, a small brownish finch-like bird with a black rump
and a bluish grey bill. Once again we watched another spectacular
sunset with the sun sinking into the sea.
This brought our holiday to a fitting and thoroughly enjoyable
end. The final total was a modest 39 species, but we took great
satisfaction from knowing that we found all the birds and identified
them by ourselves.
Pat McKay
pat.mckay@gmail.com
