This was a short but fantastic trip with Chris Lotz of Birding Ecotours, Mandy Talpas and her partners in Hawaii Bird Tours.  In about 10 days, we did some amazing birding on Kauai, Hawaii ("Big Island"), and Oahu.  This included one pelagic trip for sea birds off of Kona on the Big Island.  We saw all the endemic species that we realistically expected to see, including the incredible Palila, which has been pushed into inaccessible areas for the most part, but shortly before our visit, had moved to more accessible areas due to heavy rainfalls.  And speaking of rain, it rained A LOT while we were there, so much that we actually couldn't bird on one day, so in fact, it was really a nine day tip.  But we still got to see practically everything we could expect, and saw most species very well.  Even though the "star" birds were surely the endangered and critically endangered endemics like the Palila, I have to say the ny favorite bird was probably the 'I'iwi, pronounced eee - eee - vee (like most native Hawaiian birds, the name is onomatopoeic, sort of :-)).  Thus, lots of photos of the spectacular 'I'iwi !

Hawaii has some of the most incredible birds on the planet, but it also has the unfortunate distinction of being the "extinction capital of the world".   ...

In addition to the very special native birds, Hawaii is unusual in having a huge number of introduced species, from all over the world! ...