[bkrownd]

I just got my new Nikon TC-E17ED teleconverter for my Panasonic FZ7, and a Leki Horizon monopod to save my arms. Over the last few days I've been going up to my favorite place - Powerline Road up in the Upper Waiakea forest reserve, on the saddle above Hilo. I've been learning how to use the new teleconverter effectively. Autofocus is less reliable, depth of focus is very limited, image stabilization is less effective, and minimum focus distance is large, as expected. More of my photos are blurry or out-of-focus now, but when everything is right I'm getting better detail in shots that previously would have been too pixellated. I'm learning how to get around the limitations. Monday is a holiday, so I plan to get more photos.

Nectar feeding birds are the easiest, since they must frequently visit blossoms, and there aren't too many blossoms to choose from. I went to one of the kipuka forests and found an ohia tree with a cluster of blossoms not too far off ground level, and a clear shot from the road. I already knew this tree is part of an i'iwi's territory. (they're very territorial) I focused up, and waited for the birds to come. Jackpot!

Here are an 'apapane, an i'iwi, and an 'amakihi.

[bkrownd]

More 'apapane.

[bkrownd]

Another i'iwi

[bkrownd]

Finally, a more colorful amakihi

[bkrownd]

I covered a wider range today, looking for different birds. I spent about an hour under a large koa tree hoping to see an 'akiapola'au or at least something new, without any luck. I have some other places to look for the 'akiapola'au on Thursday.

I saw plenty of the 4 abundant natives - 'oma'o, 'apapane, amakihi and i'iwi. I got some better 'oma'o photos. The 'oma'o is the loudest bird around, and is conspicuous everywhere from the dense forests to the new growth on the lava flows. The only new bird I saw was an 'io (hawaiian hawk), which I've never seen on Powerline Road before - I almost didn't see him at all. The hawk was soaring silently above the last kipuka just North of the 1984 lava, and never came my way, so the photos are poor. Finally, I believe I saw a group of kolea (plovers) flying off over the grassier areas.

[Andy Bright]

Exellent. Looks like the new teleconverter is getting a lot closer to the birds May be worth raising the ISO setting to get a faster shutter-speed to help decrease blur, though you will get a little image noise from that...but slightly noisy and sharper is preferrable.

Just seen your photos in the gallery, well done on geting these new birds for the database.
Hawaii has to be a birder's dream, yet we see and hear little on Birdforum from the islands. Thanks for introducing us to them.

cheers,
Andy

[bkrownd]

It would also help if I got up there earlier in the morning before the clouds form. It was overcast today - great for hiking, but bad for photography. Fortunately it didn't rain or thunder. (Wandering across miles of wide-open lava field with lightning cracking overhead is an experience I don't ever want to repeat.)

One of the things I really love about Powerline Road is that I have only seen one non-native bird species there - kalij pheasant. That's amazing because everywhere else I've been on the island from shore to summit is dominated by invasive species.

[bkrownd]

Today I went a-bird-ing on the Pu'u O'o Trail, just to the West of Powerline Road. The guidebooks recommend it, but I MUCH prefer Powerline Road for several reasons. Anyhow, I went to Pu'u O'o Trail specifically because people report seeing 'akiapola'au there, and I've never seen one - it's time to fix that! The trail winds through some large stands of koa, which the 'akiapola'au prefer to peck on because it's more buggy than ohia.

I listened long and carefully for pecking in several stands of koa, but no luck. :( Pu'u O'o Trail has fewer birds than Powerline Road, and I became discouraged and eventually took to exploring the trail as much as birdwatching. Saw the usual 'oma'o, 'apapane, i'iwi and amakihi. Pu'u O'o Trail has a noisy infestation of invasive red-billed leiothrix in a patch of blackberry and raspberry vines - got a picture and quickly left those rude birds behind.

As the Sun was setting and I was hurrying back to the car, I stopped to try to snap a few shots of an 'oma'o in a koa. While reviewing the blurry bird on my LCD, I suddenly heard a peculiar reverberation in the koa trunk in front of me - something was pecking hard on a large limb above. Sure enough, it was my first 'akiapola'au! Unfortunately the 'oma'o claiming this tree chased it off before I could get a good picture. grrrr... I'll have to go back and try again on Sunday!

The first attached picture is a common blue-backed whirlybird. Whirlybirds buzz me on the saddle all the time. The next picture is the red-billed leiothrix. I'm not sure which makes more noise.

[emupilot]

Congratulations! I was visiting the Big Island a while back and made sure to visit the Pu'u O'o trail, where I found the 'akiapola'au doing its classic agape tapping on a tree. The second (main) kipuka, after the one the trail skirts the tip of, was absolutely buzzing with the 4 common natives, but there wasn't any leiothrix. The only leiothrix I saw on the Big Island was at the Palila spot at Pu'u La'au.

I hope I'm as lucky this November in Kauai - I missed Puaiohi and Akeke'e the first time I was there. The leiothrix is (thankfully) disappearing from Kauai, although maybe it should raise a red flag if a formerly abundant and obnoxious bird is dying out.

Originally Posted by bkrownd

As the Sun was setting and I was hurrying back to the car, I stopped to try to snap a few shots of an 'oma'o in a koa. While reviewing the blurry bird on my LCD, I suddenly heard a peculiar reverberation in the koa trunk in front of me - something was pecking hard on a large limb above. Sure enough, it was my first 'akiapola'au! Unfortunately the 'oma'o claiming this tree chased it off before I could get a good picture. grrrr... I'll have to go back and try again on Sunday!

[bkrownd]

I didn't have any success sighting or even hearing 'akiapola'au on Sunday. I waited for several hours in the big grove of mid-sized koa, where I really expected to have success due to the density of koa and good lighting and visibility, and another hour plus under the tree I saw the last one at. I might go a few miles off the trail next time, or try to check out areas just North of saddle road that I've seen people entering on foot. I wonder if there is any seasonal pattern to which forests they prefer to browse?

On my Saturday volunteer day at the Nature Conservancy forest preserve in South Kona we were working in a forest of ohia that were taller than I ever imagined they could be. They were so tall I didn't have any hope of taking pictures of the tiny birds way up in the canopy. It was a very very impressive place. I wish I had a wide-angle lens that could capture it in any meaningful way.

[bkrownd]

Ho-hum, another day, another new species.

I took a short stroll down Pu'u O'o Trail today, and wandered off more deeply into the koa-ohia forest than I usually do. I was hoping to find 'akiapola'au in the more gnarly koa trees, but didn't hear or see any. I DID find fun new micro-ponds, lava tubes, scenery, mosses, etc. I also found an area surrounded by old fence posts with a "Danger, predator poison bait area" sign crumpled on the ground. Somebody had vandalized it, as often happens with conservation fences in Hawai'i, but it appeared to be decades old.

Enjoying the forest, I saw plenty of the usual quartet of 'amakihi, 'apapane, i'iwi and 'oma'o. The highlight was when a Hawai'i Creeper landed a just few feet from my head and started foraging in a koa sapling! The Hawai'i Creeper is difficult to differentiate from the much more common Hawai'i 'Amakihi. This is the first time I could ever make a positive ID, because it was so close. At a 10 feet range I almost didn't get a photo because the teleconverter was on my camera! Now the only native forest bird I haven't seen yet is the orange 'Akepa. Not long now...

Here are the best two photos. Compare this Hawai'i Creeper to the Hawai'i 'Amakihi in the first and fourth posts of this thread to see how similar they look. The 'amakihi has a curved bill, while the creeper's bill is straight. People also say the creeper has a "racoon mask", but the 'amakihi usually has a dark eye band as well.

[bkrownd]

On a side note, on the way back down to Hilo I got out of the car at about 3000 feet elevation in a nice undamaged forest of koa and ohia and ferns to look down a side trail. There I heard the glorious sound of....crickets. Not a bird to be heard. The sound of extinction.

[emupilot]

I had a "maybe" on the creeper when I was on the Pu'u O'o trail - a yellow-green bugger was poking around the trunk of a tree, but I couldn't get a look at its bill. Congratulations on the new bird, though! I hope 'Apapane and 'Amakihi will expand their range downslope (they sometimes wander well below 3000') as they build up resistance to malaria.

Originally Posted by bkrownd

Ho-hum, another day, another new species.

I took a short stroll down Pu'u O'o Trail today, and wandered off more deeply into the koa-ohia forest than I usually do. I was hoping to find 'akiapola'au in the more gnarly koa trees, but didn't hear or see any. I DID find fun new micro-ponds, lava tubes, scenery, mosses, etc. I also found an area surrounded by old fence posts with a "Danger, predator poison bait area" sign crumpled on the ground. Somebody had vandalized it, as often happens with conservation fences in Hawai'i, but it appeared to be decades old.

Enjoying the forest, I saw plenty of the usual quartet of 'amakihi, 'apapane, i'iwi and 'oma'o. The highlight was when a Hawai'i Creeper landed a just few feet from my head and started foraging in a koa sapling! The Hawai'i Creeper is difficult to differentiate from the much more common Hawai'i 'Amakihi. This is the first time I could ever make a positive ID, because it was so close. At a 10 feet range I almost didn't get a photo because the teleconverter was on my camera! Now the only native forest bird I haven't seen yet is the orange 'Akepa. Not long now...

Here are the best two photos. Compare this Hawai'i Creeper to the Hawai'i 'Amakihi in the first and fourth posts of this thread to see how similar they look. The 'amakihi has a curved bill, while the creeper's bill is straight. People also say the creeper has a "racoon mask", but the 'amakihi usually has a dark eye band as well.

[bkrownd]

Originally Posted by emupilot

I had a "maybe" on the creeper when I was on the Pu'u O'o trail - a yellow-green bugger was poking around the trunk of a tree, but I couldn't get a look at its bill. Congratulations on the new bird, though! I hope 'Apapane and 'Amakihi will expand their range downslope (they sometimes wander well below 3000') as they build up resistance to malaria.

Eventually I'll learn to differentiate thier calls. The creeper has a very tiny "sweet" call, and the amakihi sort of mews among other things. The 'akiapola'au did not make any sound other than tapping. I need to start recording calls.

I don't know if any level of malaria or pox resistance has been scientifically quantified yet. I have seen loads of 'apapane down to almost 3000 feet elevation in the Nature Conservancy reserves in South Kona, in just one very old patch of tall ohia. The ground is quite a bit steeper and more porous there.

I think my next big hobby may be searching out all the native plants, like the lobelieads.

[bkrownd]

Today was rainy. (on the saddle "rainy" usually isn't much more than a solid drizzle) When the weather isn't good for long expeditions with the camera I like to try exploring a new area, so I stopped at "kipuka 21" for the first time. This area is just across Saddle Road from Kulani Powerline Road, on the North side of the road around mile mark 21. There's a tiny(!) pull-out to park at, JUST before the big dipsy-doo S-curve in the Saddle Road, and across from the lonesome powerpoles with the cut wires that used to go to Powerline Road.

Kipuka 21 is an older kipuka, with tall ohia trees (some die-back), koa trees, tree ferns, and the rest of the familiar stuff. This part of Saddle Road was built on the 'a'a flow of 1855, and it's a steep drop from the road to the forest, and on down into the forest after that. The nice part of this is that at the edge of the lava flow you can stand near the level of the forest canopy.

The state has recently fenced kipuka 21 against pigs and cattle, and started building a footpath inside. However, the gate is currently locked. I longed to go inside that wonderous forest, but instead I roamed along the fenceline. Not to worry, the bird action at the fenceline was tremendous! All of the four most common endemic forest bird species were out in force. Some of the canopy is right in front of you, and you can even walk among the branches of some of the tall ohia trees. The picture-taking is probably better outside the fence than inside. I nearly filled my 1Gb card with jpg images.

The most prominent birds here were the loud and territorial I'iwi. They make many comical sounds. 'Oma'o were the second most visible bird. Some of their calls are so loud you'd swear they use bullhorns. 'Apapane and 'Amakihi were also active, visiting all the ohia blossoms. The foliage was beautiful. Big trees above and mosses and ferns of all kinds on the rocks below. Cute little bugs here and there, including a lacewing-like bug with striking iridescent copper eyes. I tried to get a photo of a plant with flourescent orange/pink "flowers", but for some reason my camera couldn't capture that color.

I added some pictures to my gallery, starting with my best 'oma'o pictures yet.

[bkrownd]

I was late getting up this morning (grrrr!), and by the time I got up to the saddle it was rainy again. I took a chance and stopped at Pu'u O'o trail, hoping to stand in the koa and catch 'akiapola'au since it was a bad day for a long trek. Fortunately the cloud base soon lifted slightly for mid-day, and it didn't rain again until sunset approached. Overcast skies are very pleasant for hiking, but unfortunately bad for my autofocus. You can't have everything...

After crossing the forested 'a'a feild at the beginning of the trail, I went cross-country and explored many new areas West of the trail. This area alternates between grassy meadows and koa and ohia forests, has a bit of a park-like atmosphere, and is very easy to wander cross-country. The pahoehoe underneath creates lots of neat lava tubes, pits, ridges, pot ponds and micro-bogs, but not much seems to live in the water other than damselflies. If you keep going West you'll end up in the large grassy area called 'Ainahou ("Kipuka 'Ainahou State Nene Sanctuary" on my map), where the skies are WIDE and the mountain views are super. I plan to go all the way to 'Ainahou on the next clear day, but it seems I may be waiting until rainy season ends around late December.

OK...birds. I hung out in some great old koa forests, but no hint of 'akiapola'au. I saw the usual four natives and the usual invasives. The 'oma'o were prominent today. The only unusual thing today was a bunch of 'elepaio in the old koa forest. I don't see them too often.

[bkrownd]

Today I was up early, and the sky was CLEAR, so I thought I'd finally get that long day on Powerline Road I've been waiting for! But wait... By the time I got my boots on ominous cloud tops were starting to appear on the horizon. A half hour later when I got to the first good kipuka the wind had shifted and clouds were forming overhead. I wasn't off the road exploring for more than 20 minutes before I started to hear thunder. By the time I got back to my car I was IN the clouds. Clear to solidly overcast in one hour. I HATE getting chased around mountainsides by lightning, but it would prove to be the theme of the day.

So I headed across Saddle Road to "Kipuka 21" again for some easy pix. I decided to explore the fence line. Wow, the first half-mile of fence line was like the Garden of Eden! An enveloping canopy above, varied foliage all around, so many shades of green mosses and ferns below, and a chorus of birds. Eventually the fence continued over a lava flow, but it was easy enough to follow, so I did. I got about 3/4 of the way around the fenceline, in an area very densely choked with ohia, climbing ferns, etc, when I started to hear thunder again. I high-tailed it back to the car as quickly as possible through jungle and lava fields. GRRRRR!

Back in Hilo there was more lightning overhead and a deluge of rain, just so I wouldn't forget who's boss. :( I ended up with some good pix of i'iwi and 'amakihi, but otherwise it was a major disappointment. Fortunately we're headed into a 3-day weekend.

[bkrownd]

Somebody has been assembling some nice info on the Saddle Road trails I'm talking about here. It includes topo maps and elevation profiles. Some of the description and conclusions are a bit different than mine, but it is a great resource for anyone who wants to explore the saddle and watch the native birds:

http://www.ukuleles.com/SaddleRoadBi...dingTrails.htm

[bkrownd]

Big weekend. Saturday I biked out to open house at Hakalau NWR. Massive tall trees in recovering pasture land plus crowds of people does not make for good birding. It was more of a "walk in the park" kind of thing. I got some good nene pix for my gallery. The bird density in this sparse forest of massive trees was lower than is typical in the saddle kipukas. Many people claimed to see 'akepa, but I didn't manage to see anything rare. I expect to have a much better look around when I can volunteer out there for a weekend.

I was out with a small Sierra Club group that day. We stayed at the Mauna Kea State Park cabins, which were surprisingly nice despite their strange location at the edge of an army training base. Refreshingly cool and dry saddle air rested us up good. Sunday we explored the Pu'u O'o Trail. Still no luck finding 'Akiapola'au. We also missed out on 'Elepaio, too. The weather was excellent, though.

Today was a holiday, so I got up as early as I could manage and went up to Powerline Road. I did a second expedition to Upper Waiakea Bog Plant Sanctuary, trying to find the old silversword exclosure that I keep hearing about - or ANY indication of what that area is all about, for that matter. I've talked to several people who've been to the Powerline Road silverswords, and none of them remember the details. I didn't see squat after walking 50% of the site. No signs, no fences, just the usual lava and plants. I did peek into some lush kipukas along the way, which I plan to return to when the weather is more stable. I watched over the canopy of a tiny kipuka surrounded by high 'a'a walls, but my autofocus was too slow to capture the two twitchy 'oma'o who seemed to be courting on a branch. :(

About noon I switched to Pu'u O'o Trail. I went into a new koa forest East of the trail that should have been promising for bark pickers. It was a nice forest, but no rare birds. I got totally lost in the little koa forest. reminding me that I need to buy a GPS!

Fortunately I didn't give up after escaping that forest. I went into the more familiar koa-ohia forest where I got my Hawai'i Creeper pix a few posts back. Again I was rewarded there - 3 'Elepaio danced on the branches all around me 6-10 feet off the ground barking in their "rubber ducky" voices. They were adorable! I got pix of two of them with different plumage. (male/female?).

To cap off the day, on the way back to the car I saw my first ORANGE 'Ohia blossom. (They range from white to deep red, but anything other than red is rare)

[bkrownd]

The weather was perfect for exploring yesterday, so I went all the way to the end of Powerline Road for the first time in a while.

The highlight of the day was an 'elepaio who landed on the shrub next to me, and studied me intently for about 10 minutes from only two feet away, apparently trying to decide if perhaps I was infested with juicy bugs. The little guy looked like he'd fly over and land on me 3 or 4 times, but lost his nerve as soon as he fluttered up from the branch. What a cutie.

One interesting thing was that at sunset, when the wind completely died, it got so quiet that all I could hear at times was a soft, thick background whir of 'apapane wings all around. (They make a sound like a hummingbird when they fly) Overhead, small flocks of 'apapane were headed North. I've never noticed either of those things happen before. It was impressive and eerie.

To explain what happened to the powerline for which Powerline Road is named, here are pix of The End Of The Road, and The Power Poles Of Doom stranded in the 1984 lava flow. Tangled wire and charred power poles litter the width of the lava flow.

[bkrownd]

My Nature Conservancy volunteer day at the Honomalino forest preserve was cancelled, so I went to Pu'u O'o Trail. I went to the nice big koa grove to get out of the Sun, and do yet another futile search for the 'akiapola'au. I saw the 5 common species in abundance ('elepaio is also common in this area).

After a few hours hanging around the koa grove I saw an 'oma'o chasing what I thought was an 'amakihi in the understory. Fortunately I took a burst of pictures, not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised to see at first a thinner than expected beak, and in another frame I clearly saw the 'akiapola'au beak. I hung around for another couple of hours hoping for another one, and better photos, but it wasn't until I went to leave the grove that I saw another pair of them. The light was terrible by then, and the camera only wanted to focus on background foliage. They didn't seem to mind me chasing them with the camera. None of the three ever made a sound, except some occasional pecking at the bark

Some fuzzy pictures...the last one shows what they're after - juicy worms!

[emupilot]

Spectacular photos - they show the bill so well!!! Congratulations!!! How are you going to top that? Now you're going to have to find an O'u!

Originally Posted by bkrownd

My Nature Conservancy volunteer day at the Honomalino forest preserve was cancelled, so I went to Pu'u O'o Trail. I went to the nice big koa grove to get out of the Sun, and do yet another futile search for the 'akiapola'au. I saw the 5 common species in abundance ('elepaio is also common in this area).

After a few hours hanging around the koa grove I saw an 'oma'o chasing what I thought was an 'amakihi in the understory. Fortunately I took a burst of pictures, not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised to see at first a thinner than expected beak, and in another frame I clearly saw the 'akiapola'au beak. I hung around for another couple of hours hoping for another one, and better photos, but it wasn't until I went to leave the grove that I saw another pair of them. The light was terrible by then, and the camera only wanted to focus on background foliage. They didn't seem to mind me chasing them with the camera. None of the three ever made a sound, except some occasional pecking at the bark

Some fuzzy pictures...the last one shows what they're after - juicy worms!

[bkrownd]

Originally Posted by emupilot

How are you going to top that? Now you're going to have to find an O'u!

No luck finding them in the koa grove again today.

Still no 'akepa, either. Never even seen one. I need to memorize their calls.

[Marmot]

You sure have some beautiful birds, it is always a pleasure seeing them.

Hope the earthquake today did not effect you too much.

[bkrownd]

Fortunately I was late getting out the door this morning, so I got to take the ride when the Earth started moving around. If I had been in the car or up in the forest, I would have missed the whole thing. :) I didn't see any newly fallen koa trees in the grove and none fell on me this afternoon, but those trees are very poorly rooted on shallow wet soil so it may have been a dangerous place to be.