Hakalau Forest on Hawaii
On my second full day on the island of Hawaii, I took a tour with Hawaii Bird Tours into Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. The focus of this trip was the endangered endemic birds. Hakalau is about 60 square miles in size on the slopes of Mauna Kea, one of the 6 volcanoes on the island of Hawaii. Access to Hakalau is highly restricted because of the number of threatened or endangered bird species. Hawaii Bird Tours is one of 5 groups that can provide tours of the forest, and their access is limited. Tours occur once a week and have a maximum of 8 guests. The primary threats to these native birds have been the loss of habitat and malaria. Mostly, we were at about 6000’ elevation which is above the inhabitation zone of the mosquitoes. Above is an Iiwi, one of the native threatened species.
The drive from Kona was about an hour and a half. After the first hour, we turned onto a rough gravel road which sees limited use. Whenever anyone in our group spotted interesting birds, we would stop to take a look. Here are a pair of California Quail that we saw along route.
In the category of ground birds, besides the California Qual, we also saw Erckel's Spurfowl on the drive, but I only have terrible distant photos of them. In the park, we saw a pair of Kalij Pheasants. Here is a photo of the male.
When we arrived at the locked gate to the park, we saw some Hawaiian Geese in the area. I took this photograph of one as it came in for a landing.
We drove a short way into the refuge then parked. As we got out and looked around, I saw a couple of Warbling White-eyes and several Apapane such as the one above. Apapane are not listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act although they still face challenges from habitat loss.
Several of the species we saw look remarkably similar, making identification challenging. Above is an Hawaiian Amakihi. Like the Apapane, the Hawaiian Amakihi is not legally categorized as threatened or endangered.
A very similar looking bird, the Hawaiian Creeper (pictured above) is endangered with only an estimated 10,000 - 16,000 species alive. Compared to the Hawaiian Amakihi, the Hawaiian Creeper has a slightly straighter bill, a somewhat different face mask, and is generally a bit duller in color.
The Hawaiian Akepa is also an endangered bird with perhaps 13,000 - 20,000 species alive of which about half of them live in the Hakalau Forest. This immature female looks extremely similar to an immature Hawaiian Creeper. In order to be sure of this identification, I verified it Mandy Talpas, the owner of Hawaiian Birding Tours.
The male Hawaiian Akepa is an extremely bright orange color. I was only able to get 4 frames of one flying in the distance. Unfortunately, it is a rather poor photograph, but it is clearly identifiable.
One of the most endangered species that we saw was this Akiapolaau with an estimated population of 1000 - 2000. The Akiapolaau is easily identifiable by its rather odd beak. The long, downward-curving upper mandible is used for probing, and the shorter lower mandible functions as a chisel as it forages for insects and larvae in the trees.
The other highly endangered species we saw was the Hawaii Elepaio. Like the Akiapolaau, the estimated population is perhaps 1000 - 2000 birds.
The Omao is an Hawaiian thrush similar to the American Robin in size. Like the Iiwi, it is considered a threatened species.
All told, it was a great day in the forest, and I was happy to be able to see the threatened, endangered, and highly endangered species above. Sadly, two of the permanent staff at the refuge had been fired shortly before the day of tour as part of the current administration’s layoffs of federal employees. Just one of the functions these workers do is to coordinate work with tremendous numbers of volunteers to removed invasive plants throughout the 60 square mile refuge, and absolutely massive effort that has been ongoing for several decades. This is critical to providing the habitat necessary for these birds survival.