After a terrific day in Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge, day four of our trip was primarily a catch-up day as we had already done the Palila finding that was planned to be this morning (see post for D2). As we missed the Hawaiian Hawk on day three, it had become the main target of ours today.
The Hawaiian Hawk is the only native forest bird on Hawaiʻi that we have not seen yet, and it is also the only resident non-owl raptor on the entire hawaii archipelago (the Short-eared Owl at Hawaiʻi is dural, so I cannot say the only dural raptor). The Hawaiian Hawk is a relatively small Buteo hawk that was likely originally a vagrant from North America. It has now evolved to become its own species, found nowhere else in the world except along the forest edges of Hawaiʻi.
First, we went to a neighborhood near Mount Thunder Coffey Plantation, where birders often find them roosting or circling above. We drove slowly along the road, scanning all the trees, and walked parts where they were seen recently, but the only thing we saw was a Hawaiian-Hawk-like branch.
Exiting the neighborhood, we started our two hour drive all the way across the biggest island in Hawaii. On the road we continued our search for the Hawaiian Hawks on the car. All along the road, there were trees on our left and the ocean on our right, perfect for a Hawaiian Hawk to appear.
After driving a while, around 11:30 am, I finally saw a raptor swooping right over our car. We slammed on the brakes and pulled over onto the shoulder. It was a pale-morphed Hawaiian Hawk! Even better, the Hawaiian Hawk turned back just before going out of view behind some building and flew slowly over us once more, allowing me to get great photos! We finally got all the Hawaiian native forest bird!
After the Hawaiian Hawk encounter, we continued on our way. Once we reached our destination Hōlei Sea Arch at the end of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park’s Chain of Craters Road, we started to search for Black Noddies. The sea arch is one of the only place where you can reliably see Black Noddies without going to remote uninhabited atolls. On the lava cliff we soon discovered quite a few Black Noddies. Though the high wind distance made it hard to take photos, I finally got a few before we will have to head out to catch our plane to Kauai.
On the way out, we drove pass chains of craters as we are driving on the Chain of Craters Road. Once we reached the biggest Kīlauea Crater (It erupted the week after our visit), we got out and saw smoke coming out from the bottom!
eBird checklists:
- Hawaii Belt Rd, 19.27520, -155.87446, Hawaiian Hawk Location
- Hawai’i Volcanoes NP–Coastal Chain of Craters Rd. (Hōlei Sea Arch)
