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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave Kennedy" data-source="post: 1250061" data-attributes="member: 57986">Disaster in HawaiiIn 1998 my wife and I visited Hawaii, and took a trip into the Volcanoes National Park. On arrival in Honolulu I had purchased a copy of Hawaii's Birds by the Hawaii Audubon Society. On its cover was a picture of an I'iwi perched on an ohi'a lehua blossom. We stopped off at Volcano House for lunch. Volcano House is perched on the edge of Kilauea Crater, amid a small ohi'a forest, so I was really lusting after an i'iwi. As we were having coffee at our window seat in the restaurant my wife said, " Hey, wow, look at that!" "Look at what?" I responded. "Didn't you see it? What a bird, it was brilliant orangey-red with some black on it. It flew down there, over the crater rim." A horrible fear gripped me. I slid the book across the table. She picked it up. "Yes, that's it! Nice, isn't it?"Needless to say, to this day I have never seen an i'iwi. And, living as I do in South Africa, the chances of everseeing one are not high.You don't get over it.....not ever.Best wishes,Dave Kennedy</blockquote>