Sky and Sea

The endemic (and elusive) ʻAkiapōlāʻau

On the day that Caty and Becca were going on two dives (again with Jack’s Diving Locker), I went birding, looking for some Hawai’ian endemics.

Hawai’i, as one would expect because of its remote location, has many unique and/or endemic birds. Some are extinct in the wild, many are endangered and most are threatened, primarily because they have fragile habitats that have been largely destroyed by development, climate change and invasive creatures.

Attempts are being made to protect and nurture the native plants and birds

On most (maybe all) of the islands, there are limited-access protected areas. Many allow guided birding trips on a limited basis (sometimes a few days a month, sometimes by limited permits for qualified guides). I have a history of being on a specific island on days that these preserves are NOT open or when no guided tours are offered.

So, imagine how thrilled I was to get an ad for a guided tour of the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on the Big Island during the time we were going to be there. I booked a full-day tour.

Hawai'ian raspberry

Hakalau Forest NWR, a protected area managed as part of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, contains some of the finest remaining stands of native montane wet forest in Hawaiʻi.

Where I went

The slopes below 4,000 feet receive about 250 inches of rain, resulting a landscape of bogs, fern patches and scrubby forest bisected by deep gulches.

The headwaters of a stream that flows to the sea

Rainfall decreases to about 150 inches a year at elevations above 4,500 feet, where koa and red-blossomed ʻōhiʻa lehua trees form a closed-canopy forest.

Further upslope, above 6,000 feet, rainfall decreases to 100 inches or less and native forest merges into abandoned pastureland where alien grasses and weeds, introduced as forage for cattle, are the dominant vegetation.

The planted koa trees like this on the left, will eventually push out imported gorse

Since 1989, over 400,000 koa, ʻōhiʻa and other native plants have been planted as part of a reforestation program.

The original refuge was created in 1985 and then enlarged in 1997 to create a second unit designed to protect the habitat of the ʻAlalā (Hawai’ian Crow), which is now extinct in the wild.

ʻAlalā; Photos: eBird

Much of Hawai’i's native lowland habitat was first degraded following the Polynesians' arrival more than a thousand years ago. In the late 18th century, cattle, goats and European pigs were released into the forests for hunting. Since then, hundreds of additional alien plants, animals and insects including mosquitoes, wasps, Small Asian Mongooses, cats and rats have been introduced. 

Most lowland plants seen today, including orchids, ginger and plumeria are aliens or nonnative. 

Small Asian Mongoose, Red Ginger

All of this has devastated native plants and species. The upper realms are covered in gorse, imported from Scotland to feed cattle.

Hakalau is home to 14 native bird species, of which eight are endangered. 

The endemic Hawai'i Creeper

In addition to the native birds, 13 migratory bird species, 20 introduced species, eight game bird species and the endangered ʻOpeʻapeʻa (Hawai’ian Hoary Bat) also frequent the Refuge. 

They are nocturnal, so we didn't see one; Photo: Maui Magazine

The landscape includes 29 rare plant species, of which 12 are currently listed as endangered. Two endangered lobelias have fewer than five plants known to exist in the wild.

The Hakalau Forest

I went with Hawai’i Forest and Trail, a Hawai’i-based nature guiding group. The trip was, indeed, a small group, with eight people. The tour provided snacks, lunch and – and this was nice for people who are traveling – a small backpack and walking sticks (if you want) so that you don’t need to bring your own.

I met up with the tour at Hawai’i Forest and Trail’s office, but they picked up some of the other participants at two other locations on the way. At the Queens' Marketplace pick-up, which was under construction, there were about two dozen Nenes (Hawai’ian Geese) in the field by the construction area.

They were spread over a large area

After collecting everyone, we headed up the Saddle Road and onto a dirt track to the gates of Hakalau at about 6,000 feet of elevation. On the way, we saw a lifer for me: a Hawai’ian Hawk. I was in the van – a nice one – that, unfortunately did not have windows that opened, so I couldn’t get a picture. 

I really wanted a photo of the Hawai'ian Hawk; Photo: eBird

We also saw some Erckel’s Spurfowls, another lifer, that I didn’t get photos of from the van (but I got some later).

Our guide, Jon, was really good – knowledgeable, obviously committed to the environment and personable. He explained the status of local vs. invasive plants as we climbed up to the forest.

Jon guides frequently at Hakalau

The road to Hakalua is unpaved and rutted. There has been talk about paving it, but Jon said that law enforcement was concerned that a better road would cause people to drive at higher speeds, resulting in even more accidents than already occur on that road.

So, we bumped along all the way to the gates to the Hakalua unit we were visiting.

This is a highly endangered area, so, before we could enter, they disinfected all our shoes and the tires on the van before unlocking the gate.

The entrance is locked; Photos: Ke Ola Magazine

The forest was pretty, with thigh-high soft green grasses along the hillsides and tall, dense trees.

The misty-to-rainy-and-back-to-misty weather made photography difficult

Although we spent most of our time walking along the rutted – and sometimes muddy – trail, but occasionally veered off to walk through the thick grass on the hillsides. 

Some of the walking was a bit tricky and I am glad I had a walking stick

The actual number of birds seen was low for a day-long trip and the number photographed was even lower. But, these are rare and difficult to see birds, so the day was worth it.

We saw a Eurasian Skylark, some Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihis, an ‘Apapane and an ‘I’iwi, all of which I have seen before in Maui and none of which I was able to photograph this time.

Hawai’i Forest and Trail has nice ‘I’iwi art in their office

Some members of our group saw some Red-billed Leiothrixes, which I heard but never saw. In fact, we heard a lot of them deep in distant bushes, but they would not come out. I don’t know when or where a fellow birder saw them. He didn’t mention it at the time; it jsut showed up on the eBird list. That miss that really hurt because I so wanted to see that bird.

Two lifers – the Hawai’i Akepa and the ‘Ōmaʻo –  appeared briefly but evaded my camera. These Hawai’i birds are skulky!

Left: Hawai’i Akepa; Right: ‘Ōmaʻo; Photos: eBird 

Gee, as I write about it, this trip seems like a bust. So, what did I see?

First, a Hawai’i Elepaio, a lifer, that made a very brief (and almost equally skulky) appearance.

I wish I had gotten a decent photo

And, then the good stuff …

A couple of Hawai’i Creepers, another lifer, that put on a pretty good show. This species of Honeycreeper is endemic to the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, living only at 3,300 to 7,500 feet. 

The Hawai’ian name is Alawī, which I suspect will eventually become the official name

These birds climb up and down trees, using their short, sharp beaks to probe bark for insects. They will also sip nectar from koa or ʻōhiʻa lehua, which, as we discussed before, are also rare.

A delicate little thing

The Hawaiʻi Creeper was put on the endangered species list in 1975; however, it was unknown whether the bird was actually endangered or just uncommon. The entire world population is 12,000 birds separated into three populations. 

 

Although its habitat is being degraded, it has still maintained population

It seems to handle diseases better than other similar species, but is often prey to introduced rats, especially because, despite feeding in trees, it nests on the forest floor.

While we had a good view of this bird, you can see how tricky it might be to spot if you weren’t looking carefully.

Virtually impossible

In the open areas, we saw a couple of Kalij Pheasants, a bird I had seen the last time I visited the Big Island. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kalij

This bird is native to the Himalayan foothills of Nepal, Pakistan and western Thailand and was introduced to Hawai’i in 1962 as a game bird.

The female was much more gregarious than the male

As we were getting ready to leave, I could tell that Jon was unhappy that we had not been able to see an ʻAkiapōlāʻau, his main target bird for this trip.

We had heard them, but they just wouldn’t come out. And, then, as we were walking back to the van, three appeared in the trees along the road: a male, female and juvenile.

Juvenile

This endangered species of Hawai’ian honeycreeper endemic to the Island of Hawaii and is the only bird species on the island to occupy the woodpecker niche. 

It feeds exclusively on insects 

Disease-carrying mosquitoes have restricted it to elevations of between 4,300 and 6,900 feet.

The ʻAkiapōlāʻau has a unique curved bill with a much longer top than bottom. 

Very unusual

It uses the thicker short bottom to locate insect larvae, then disengages its jaw to pull the lower bill forward to the end of the top to create a tweezer-like grip to pull out the larvae. Then it crushes its meal with the lower bill.

This is a complicated hunting process that is taught rather than intuitive. For that reason, juveniles stay with their parents much longer than most birds. As such, it breeds only every other year.

Male ʻAkiapōlāʻau 

The ʻAkiapōlāʻau was common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but the population has been affected by habitat loss and predation by rats, cats and dogs. Alien plants have been upstaging the two most depended-on species of trees, the koa and ohiʻa trees.

On top of that, introduced pigs create wallows that can destroy the tree roots, killing the trees, as well as creating breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Looking at us through the rain

The population has broken down into four groups. The smallest is three birds, another population has only 20, the third has 44 and the largest population contains about 1,097. That figure appears to be dropping even though it is somewhat hard to find the birds.

Right above us

This bird was included on the endangered species list in 1967. Efforts to protect the species include aggressive reforestation, trying to get a captive population, removing feral ungulates and collecting data to help with the three other plans.

Highly endangered

Conservationists have yet to obtain the eggs of this species, which will be needed to create a breeding population in captivity. Moreover, adults will be needed to keep up what little populations are still left.

Finding these birds was indeed a win

After our time in the forest, we headed out to try to find some Pueos – native Hawai’ian Short-eared Owls – but we had no luck. I sure would have liked to see some even though I have seen them before (at great distance) in Maui.

A not-so-great shot of a Pueo on Maui

We did, however, see some California Quail that I didn’t photograph and that additional Erckel's Spurfowl I promised you.

Erckel's Spurfowl

Despite low results, I truly enjoyed spending time in this pristine forest that is slowly being returned to its natural state.

And getting seven lifers was another plus.

Even if I couldn't get good photos of all; this is the Hawai’i Elepaio

Under the Sea

Although I wasn’t with them, I got good reports from Caty and Becca about the dive. 

Peacock Flounder; Becca; Photos: Caty Stevens

Here are some of their photos ...

CW: Longnose Butterflyfish, Orange Shoulder Tang, Pinktail Triggerfish, Barred Parrotfish, Pacific Bullethead Parrotfish, Yellow Tang and Scrawled Butterflyfish, Fourspot Butterflyfish, Moorish Idols

Whitemouth Moray Eel; Photo: Becca Stevens

Green Sea Turtle; Photos: Caty Stevens

Raccoon Butterflyfish; Photo: Becca Stevens

Bluefin Trevally; Photos: Caty Stevens

Hawai'ian Spiky Sea Cucumber, Black Sea Cucumber; Photos: Caty Stevens

Blue-striped Snapper; Photo: Caty Stevens

Goldring Surgeonfish, Long Spiked Sea Urchin, Blue Parrotfish; Photos: Caty Stevens

Hawai'ian Sergeant; Photo: Caty Stevens

When I got back, Caty, Becca and I got dressed up and went into Kona for a nice dinner at the Fish Hopper. Then we packed up so that we could leave the next day for a sojourn to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, with hopes of seeing the Kīlauea volcano erupt.

Did we? Find out next

Trip dates: June 7 - 29, 2026