On day seven, we have pretty much gotten all the hard targets of the trip. The only ones left are the Great Frigatebirds, Hawaiian Ducks, and Hawaiian Coots.
First thing in the morning, we visited the famous Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, where hundreds of Red-footed Boobies nest and provide excellent photo opportunities. Red-tailed and White-tailed Tropicbirds also nest on the cliff and the extremely funny Wedge-tailed Shearwaters nest in borrows right next to the road.
As all those pelagic birds enter and exit the bay, they become the easiest targets for the Great Frigatebirds, the pirates of the sky. Those pirates had long been waiting at a critical juncture right before the hill side colony, ready to strike at any moment to kleptoparasitize some helpless Red-footed Boobies, Brown Boobies or Tropicbirds carrying food back to their nests. They have evolved the most efficient wings with the lowest wing-loading ratio (wingspan to weight) of all birds, which allow them extremely high mobility, speed, and also effortless long-distance, continuous soaring. With those wings, they slowly circle high above the passage and once a bird falls under their gaze, they suddenly dove and catch up to the bird in no time. They close up and force the bird into discarding their food, not a single one could escape. After the bird gives up, they just snatch the falling fish and have it for them selfs.
After taking hundreds of photos of all kinds of sea birds and eating lunch, we headed to Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge’s taro field near ‘Ohiki Road. This is one of the only places on earth to see Hawaiian Coots and pure-blooded Hawaiian Ducks (most birds hybridized with the invasive Mallard). Soon after entering, we started to see Hawaiian Ducks, which are all resting and preening on the bands of the pools. We soon also found a single Hawaiian Coot which prefers other habitat over taro fields, making them harder here.
After observing more of those little dark brown ducks, we headed back to the Kīlauea Point NWR to wait for the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters to return after fishing all day. As the sun starts to went down Wedge-tailed Shearwaters started to show up, first one, then two, then they started to show up in groups and soon occupied the hill side flying extremely quickly and swiftly. They cycle the hillside a couple of times, before entering their borrows and make their distinctive and funny “meowing” calls.
After it became dark, we went back to the hotel.
The next day, day 8 is a back up day, and we have no target left, so we did some sea watching and saw some Green Sea Turtles. While the sea whaching yield only Red-footed Boobies, it made a perfect relaxing ending to our 8-day trip to Hawaii this Spring Break.
There will be a summary/simple guide to Hawaii birding based on this trip coming up!
eBird checklists:
- Kīlauea Point NWR MORNING
- Hanalei NWR–‘Ohiki Rd
- Kīlauea Point NWR AFTERNOON
- Kīlauea Point NWR–Overlook (always open) AFTERNOON
