Birding Maui (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I am fortunate enough to be spending 8 days in Maui in February. For half of the trip I will be spending it near Kihei so I will visit Kealia, but I was wondering if there are any birding/hiking suggestions near the west side of the island (Kanaapali or Kapalua)?

Thank you,
Jgrnot

I have found quite a bit of good birding just by walking along the coast from Kihei up to the lava rocks. Also, in the middle of the island is a reserve, ....last time I was there they were still working on the paths so not sure if it is complete yet but have a feeling feb is wrong time of year for that one.

Make sure you drive up to the volcano and see the Nene. ALso, get a Hawaii bird guide. Not a ton of birds but wow, pretty ones!

Unfortunately you'll have a tough time seeing endemic forest birds or anything like true native habitats on Maui. Maui has extremely poor wilderness access, and much of the island was converted to pasture wasteland by logging and ranching. In many areas of the island you'll be hard-pressed to even find a native plant. The whole Northwest face of East Maui was obliterated by the ranches, and when they did finally figure out they'd gone too far they re-planted with alien trees instead of native trees.

So all you're left with is the sad "Hosmer's Grove" area at the edge of Haleakala National Park. it's a low-quality alien tree plantation, with a small fragment of native trees that hung on in the steep gulch. A few of the native forest birds come up the gulch from the native forests out of sight far below, and they also live in the subalpine scrub above. The subalpine shrubland inside the national park above "Hosmer's Grove" is quite nice, and good for birdwatching though the birds are low density and seasonal. The "service trail" and "halemau'u" trail to the edge of the crater are nice for seeing this habitat.

Including and below "Hosmer's Grove" is the Nature Conservancy's Waikamoi preserve. There are two tours into Waikamoi that you might (don't count on it) be lucky enough to schedule. Unfortunately these tours only go into the very upper edge of the native forest, so even then you don't really get to experience the native forest. Nevertheless, both of these tours DO have a chance of seeing all of Maui's remaining endemic forest birds, provided your guide knows how to find them. (again, if it's guided by Park staff don't count on it) If you're lucky the Maui Forest Bird Recovery people might have a tour while you're there - they'll know what to listen for.

The wilderness access situation on Maui is really bad and unfortunate. As a result, most people don't care about (or know about) the native wilderness, so nothing is done to improve access. "Out of sight, out of mind."

Look here for more info: www.mauiforestbirds.org

Pix from the Waikamoi bird survey last year: http://www.pbase.com/bkrownd/maui_wilderness