Birding The Big Island - Part 2

The second half of our trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i was spent in Mauna Lani, where we saw many birds, notably non-native birds, at the lush villas we stayed in. In the morning, from the back porch overlooking lawns and lava flows, we always had the same cast. Our first visitors were on foot, Gray Francolins. They bustled through the mulched flower beds and foraged on the lawn right next to the breakfast table. A walk around the compound always yielded a Bristle-thighed Curlew patrolling a lawn.

Gray Francolin

Bristle-thighed Curlew

The rest of the morning, we'd see African Silverbills, Java Sparrows, Scaly-breasted Munias, Common Waxbills, and Rosy-faced Lovebirds. Again, we easily spotted a dozen bird species from the comfort of our lodging, with no bird feeders needed.

A little flock of Common Waxbills foraging

Mauna Lani - Gray Francolin, African Silverbill, Java Sparrow, Scaly-breasted Munia, Rosy-faced Lovebird, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Common Waxbill (28 life list birds, 23 BINGO birds)

After attending a lovely luau, we were treated to a second, unexpected show. Guests of the hotel were snorkeling just offshore. Though it was pitch dark, they were attracting stingrays with a floating artificially lit scaffolding in the water. From a stone balcony on the shore, we looked down on stingrays of all sizes doing somersaults under the light. It was a while before I noticed, standing at the edge of the light on a pile of rocks, a Black-crowned Night Heron. He attentively and patiently watched the water with us. Night herons have exceptionally good night vision, so it's unclear if this extra lighting or commotion was benefiting his hunt. He did decide he'd had enough after another 5 minutes and flew off to a more peaceful perch.

Luau - Black-crowned Nigh Heron, Gray Francolin, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Pacifc Golden-Plover, Common Waxbill (27 life list birds, 24 BINGO birds)

The Brown Booby was a lucky spot on our way out of the harbor for a whale watching tour, he stood proudly on a booie ignoring the passing boats.

Whale Watching - Brown Booby

Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, though small, turned out to be a hot spot for birds and sea turtles. From the visitor's center, it was a very quiet walk, which was made exceptionally slow by the number of birds and my need to lay eyes on all of them. Northern pintails, doves, canaries, and cardinals filled the bushes, trees, and ponds. At the beach, I was initially disappointed to find all the people; they parked at the closer entry to go directly to the beach. I scanned the tourists looking at the tide pools and walking their dogs when my eye landed on the most peculiar-looking shape. Squinting, I finally realized I was looking at another Black-crowned Night Heron standing in the midst of everyone but laser-focused on a tide pool stream, completely oblivious to everything around him. It wasn't long before he lunged and gleefully hopped around and rearranged himself around the pools. He looked like a toddler playing in the tide pools.

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park - Northern pintail, spotted dove, zebra dove, Hawaiian Coot, Pacifc Golden-Plover, Wandering Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone, Black-crowned Night Heron, Western Cattle Egret, House FInch, Yellow-fronted Canary, Northern Cardinal, Yellow-billed Cardinal, Saffron Finch (27 life list birds, 24 BINGO birds)

Overall, it was an incredibly productive birding trip. I saw 35 bird species in Hawai'i and 2 escapees (the Helmeted Guineafowl and Muscovy Duck), 27 new life birds (not including the escapees), bringing my total to 274. We fell only 1 short on our birding BINGO, the Red-billed Leiothrix... which I may have glimpsed back in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. I'll never know for sure and can look forward to spotting it next time. There's always one that got away.