Well, we have finally done it! We have now birded in all 50 states and what a thrill it was to complete our journey in Hawaii in March! Hawaii was our 50th state to birdwatch in and Ed’s 50th state to visit. What a great way to end our quest for at least 50 species in each of 50 states!!!
It’s a long way to Hawaii and we broke it up by stopping in Los Angeles for the night. We had a shot at a life bird in a park in Los Angeles and we went for it and got the elusive little Hermit Warbler. Early the next morning we flew to the Big Island of Hawaii. It’s still a 6 hour flight out of LA so it’s a long way to go! It was exciting to fly in and notice all the dark lava on the island, which is very striking. We birded our hotel area and areas close by, and were excited to find the state bird, the Hawaiian Goose or Ne-ne, as it is called. The Hawaiian Islands have many introduced species from Asia, South America, Africa and Europe, along with 34 endemics, birds found only there.
The highlight of our visit to the Big Island was a day trip on a tour to Hakalau NWR. This is a Refuge that you can only go in with a guide, an hour drive on the highway and then another hour of 10 more miles on a terrible dirt road with 11 of us rockin’ and rollin’ in the van. Our targets were 8 endemic birds, only found in Hawaii and we were so excited to find them all! It was absolutely a gorgeous day at Hakalau NWR, but it can be very much affected by weather at 6,400 feet. We walked several miles through the forest with our guide Gary from Hawaii Forest and Trail. He did a splendid job of helping us find all our target birds and was very generous with photographers, allowing them the time to take pictures. Ed was in heaven.
Endemics at Hakalau NWR – Akiapolaau, Apapane, Iiwi, and Hawaii Elepaio
Our rarest find was the endangered Akiapolaau which has such a unique bill that can drill for insects with the lower bill and extracts them with the upper one. We saw several Apapane and numerous Iiwi with their long curved bills. The adorable Hawaii Elepaio reminded us of a little wren. The exciting thing about this NWR is that they have restored so much of the forest with native plants, and it is a stunning success story. The only bad part is there is an avian flu that is killing birds, so they are working very hard to eradicate it and we had to disinfect our hiking boots before we went into the forest.
The next day we went to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was amazing to see so much lava and the stunning stark landscape. The most exciting part was where the lava flowed into the ocean. The Pacific was a brilliant blue as it beat against the rocky cliffs and we were so fortunate to see life bird Black Noddies. This is a pelagic bird that nests in the cliffs. It was a brilliant sunny day, and it was an incredible experience to watch the birds against the lava cliffs.
From the volcanic Big Island of Hawaii, we flew to the garden island of Kauai, which was quite a contrast. Our highlight there was visiting the lighthouse at Kilauea Point NWR. This is a stunning national wildlife refuge where you need to make a reservation well in advance to go into for 45 minutes segments since parking and space is very limited. We had made back to back reservations so we had a generous amount of time to observe the beautiful lighthouse and most importantly, the amazing pelagic birds that were working the cliffs below us.
On one of the cliffs over 300 Red-footed Boobys were nesting and actively carrying nesting material back to their nests. Above us soared Red-tailed Tropicbirds, who had just arrived a few days earlier. They were stunning with their red bills and red streaming tails. Among the mix were two White- tailed Tropic birds. It was very exciting to see Laysan Albatross soaring over our heads almost at eye level . And we were fortunate enough to see the Great Frigatebird, a parasitic feeder who steals from other birds, soar over our heads. Along the path to the lighthouse in burrows in the ground were nesting Wedge-tailed Shearwater. I was in heaven and overload with so many life birds. Ed was thrilled with so many birds soaring at almost eye level by the majestic cliffs!
We continued on to the town of Princeville we saw nesting Laysan Albatross with their chick in a yard in a neighborhood cul-de sac! Albatross mate for life and stay with the chick for three years. They have such intricate behavior with each other, over 25 “dance moves”! It reminded me of Ed and I having some animated discussion… lol.
The following day we drove up to the other end of Kauai and into the spectacular Waimea Canyon and birding hotspots on the west side of the island. It amazes me that we could virtually see the Pacific from everywhere. The islands are home to 3 cardinal species, our Northern Cardinal, but also the Yellow- billed Cardinal and the Red-crested Cardinal.
They also have 3 dove species, our Mourning Dove and the larger Spotted Dove and the tiny Zebra Doves. Tiny Warbling White-eye were numerous, as were brilliant yellow Saffron Finches. On both islands we saw numerous Red Junglefowl, in the airports, parking lots, yards and annoyingly, outside our Airbnb crowing at 5am!
Spotted Dove, Zebra Dove, Saffron Finch, and Warbling White-eye
And soon our trip was over after 9 glorious days. I picked up 45 life birds, 43 in Hawaii and one on the outbound in LA and one on the return trip, the pesky little California Gnatcatcher that has eluded me. I now have 689 US life birds, my goal this year is to get to 700. And with the 50 species in all 50 states, I guess we could go for 100 in each. Oh dear… I see Ed running for a cover!
Article by Aija Konrad, photos by Ed Konrad
