Suggestions - wildlife photography on Hawaii, the Big Island?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

R

rgbiv

New member
Member's gallery
Might be traveling to the Big Island in the next few months. Anyone have any suggestions about where/what/when for photographing Birds and other wildlife there?
Thanks!
 
Member's gallery
I was there last January, was family trip so didn’t take many photos. But for wildlife there’s few options, if your interested in a zodiac trip I’d recommend captain zodiac, black sands beach had turtles (area was barricaded for good reason) and there was nene geese on drive in. I’m trying to remember the name of the beach we were at, very limited amount of people allowed in have to check in at a gate and they give you pass, if there all out no entry is allowed it had all sorts of birds and turtles were all over the beaches (just have to be respectful of them). I’ll try and remember the name of the beach. Stop at Punalu’u bake shop! Most southern bakery amazing food. There is a bird photographer on the island that does day tours but I wasn’t able to go. We also did a cloud forest tour, was pretty interesting and the owner was very knowledgeable on all the plants and tree species. The two following photos are screenshots from my instagram so quality won’t be as good and there pretty small. I hope this helped!

IMG_0521.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
IMG_0520.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 

Attachments

  • 817B8BD4D3AB44E399B177DE0D7FF485.jpeg
    817B8BD4D3AB44E399B177DE0D7FF485.jpeg
    774.7 KB · Views: 12
Member's gallery
rgbiv said:
Might be traveling to the Big Island in the next few months. Anyone have any suggestions about where/what/when for photographing Birds and other wildlife there?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
All the wildlife photography I did 20 years ago in Hawaii was done underwater. The situation is much worse today in occupied Hawaii.
 
Member's gallery
Most of your wildlife is underwater in Hawaii. Turtles sunning themselves on the beaches is common on all islands in Hawaii due to the lack of predators on land, and they stay nice and still which can make for great long exposure shots. If you are lucky you might catch the endangered Hawaiian monk seal sunning on a beach as well. Although I find monk seals much easier to find on Kauai than the other islands. One thing I would absolutely recommend, even though it's not wildlife photography, is hiring a guide and walking out to the lava flows. Being a few feet away from lava is quite the experience and a unique landscape photo opportunity. I believe the lava lake in the caldera collapsed during the last eruption and is no longer there, but the volcano changes all the time, you will have to look into it closer to your trip. Seeing lava flowing into the ocean is cool too.

monk seal RS.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

Hawaiian Monk seal long exposure at golden hour

lava RS.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.


lava 2.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

When with a guide you can get real close to the slow moving stuff. It's pretty amazing.
 
Member's gallery
GregT943 said:
Most of your wildlife is underwater in Hawaii. Turtles sunning themselves on the beaches is common on all islands in Hawaii due to the lack of predators on land, and they stay nice and still which can make for great long exposure shots. If you are lucky you might catch the endangered Hawaiian monk seal sunning on a beach as well. Although I find monk seals much easier to find on Kauai than the other islands. One thing I would absolutely recommend, even though it's not wildlife photography, is hiring a guide and walking out to the lava flows. Being a few feet away from lava is quite the experience and a unique landscape photo opportunity. I believe the lava lake in the caldera collapsed during the last eruption and is no longer there, but the volcano changes all the time, you will have to look into it closer to your trip. Seeing lava flowing into the ocean is cool too.

View attachment 87738
Hawaiian Monk seal long exposure at golden hour

View attachment 87739

View attachment 87740
When with a guide you can get real close to the slow moving stuff. It's pretty amazing.
Click to expand...
Brilliant suggestion/idea. Hopefully there will be some (modest) eruption going on when we are there!
 
Member's gallery
Clough91 said:
I was there last January, was family trip so didn’t take many photos. But for wildlife there’s few options, if your interested in a zodiac trip I’d recommend captain zodiac, black sands beach had turtles (area was barricaded for good reason) and there was nene geese on drive in. I’m trying to remember the name of the beach we were at, very limited amount of people allowed in have to check in at a gate and they give you pass, if there all out no entry is allowed it had all sorts of birds and turtles were all over the beaches (just have to be respectful of them). I’ll try and remember the name of the beach. Stop at Punalu’u bake shop! Most southern bakery amazing food. There is a bird photographer on the island that does day tours but I wasn’t able to go. We also did a cloud forest tour, was pretty interesting and the owner was very knowledgeable on all the plants and tree species. The two following photos are screenshots from my instagram so quality won’t be as good and there pretty small. I hope this helped!

View attachment 87711View attachment 87712
Click to expand...
Nice capture, Missing my last year tour of hawaii :)
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
rgbiv said:
Might be traveling to the Big Island in the next few months. Anyone have any suggestions about where/what/when for photographing Birds and other wildlife there?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I live on Maui but spend considerable time on the Big Island. For native forest birds, I highly recommend a trip into Hakalau Forest Preserve. It is on the SE flank of Mauna Kea and is under intense efforts to remove invasives and reestablish native habitat. Access is by guide only. Jack Jeffrey is a local guide and photographer who I highly recommend and will take you into Hakalau. Google him. The entire Volcanoes National Park is great for hiking, birding, and photography. I also recommend the Pu'u O'o trail which is in the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
 
Member's gallery
Scott@Maui said:
I live on Maui but spend considerable time on the Big Island. For native forest birds, I highly recommend a trip into Hakalau Forest Preserve. It is on the SE flank of Mauna Kea and is under intense efforts to remove invasives and reestablish native habitat. Access is by guide only. Jack Jeffrey is a local guide and photographer who I highly recommend and will take you into Hakalau. Google him. The entire Volcanoes National Park is great for hiking, birding, and photography. I also recommend the Pu'u O'o trail which is in the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
Click to expand...
I think I need to start thinking about going back again haha lots of info I wish I knew before I went!
 
Member's gallery
Oh hey, this is my jam right here! I usually go yearly in spring, when the blossoms are peaking, forest bird breeding season is starting, and the native birds are active lower in the forest understory.

I second Jack Jeffrey ( https://jackjeffreyphoto.com/ ) as a guide for Hakalau. Not only are his trips more photography focused than going with Hawaii Forest & Trail or a birding-focused tour, he was also instrumental in the establishment of Hakalau reserve and can tell you a ton about the history of the reserve and the ongoing conservation fight to save the local birds. He's got a great sense of humor, too! That said, I've also gone on tours with other people (usually to maximize my number of days in the reserve during my trip) and they're all great. You can't go wrong going to Hakalau, no matter who you go with! Lance Taino is also great. And I've gone with Hawaii Forest & Trail and they've got good guides too (Gary is a fave there!). It's a small community of people who lead trips into the refuge and they all know each other, too. There's no bad guides.

It's important to note that most of the birds you'll see in the tourist areas are non-natives. The native honeycreepers are facing extreme survival threats right now due to avian malaria, which was introduced by imported non-native birds and is spread by invasive mosquitoes. The native honeycreepers have no natural immunity to this disease and a single bite from an infected mosquito can kill most species within a week. Only a few, like the ʻapapane and ʻamakhi are beginning to develop more resistance to it. The others are rapidly shrinking in numbers. Most can only survive now about 5000' elevation, where it's too cold for mosquitoes to survive. This is exacerbated by climate change, which has pushed the 'mosquito line' higher up the mountain over the years (it used to be around 3500'). As a result, most native forest birds are completely gone from lower elevations, replaced with introduced species from Asia, Africa, and the Americas (its pretty dissonant when you see a Northern Cardinal flying around Hawaiʻi, heh).

Most of the Hawaiʻi native species youʻll find at lower elevations are seabirds, nēnē (Hawaiian geese), or Hawaiʻi's two native birds of prey: ʻio (Hawaiian hawk) and pueo (Hawaiian short-eared owl).

That said, there are some great places to photograph birds on the Big Island!

Other places to check out...

* Puʻu ʻŌʻō trail - Around mile marker 23 on Saddle Road. The best birding is within the first 2 miles or so of the trail, crossing into multiple kīpuka (forested tree 'islands' surrounded by bare lava). You can find ʻiʻiwi, ʻapapane, ʻelepaio, ʻamakihi, ʻōmaʻo and many others here. There's also occasionally ʻakiapōlāʻau sightings here.

* Kīpuka 21 - Around mile marker 21 on Saddle Road. This is another good birding spot, with plenty of ʻapapane, ʻelepaio, ʻiʻiwi, and ʻamakihi. Same sort of terrain as Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

* Old Saddle Road by Waikiʻi Ranch - Turn left onto Old Saddle Road off DKI Highway (if coming from Kona side), pass Kilohana Checking Station. Everything from Kilohana to the end of the road is your target area. This is the most reliable place to find pueo (Hawaiian short-earred owls). They perch on the fence posts along the road or hover over the open fields to hunt. Drive slow (and pull over for faster moving traffic) and you'll spot them. They are EXTREMELY shy, so don't leap out of the car and run over. Keep your distance and you'll be able to get good photos.

* Pine Trees Beach (aka Kohaniki) - Kona side, between the airport and the town. When driving along Queen Kaʻahumanu Hwy, turn makai (towards the sea) at the traffic light across from Pine Trees Cafe. Drive down Kohaniki Rd until you get to a secluded little beach with some minimal parking. This area has some great ponds for photographing aeʻo (Hawaiian Stilt) and Black Crowned Night Herons (ʻaukuʻu in Hawaiian). You can also get kōlea (Pacific Golden Plovers) here.

* Palila Discovery Trail - This one requires 4wd, but itʻs a pretty mild road when dry. Turn into the dirt lot at the Kilohana Hunter Checking Station. Then drive about 4 miles (so you could hike it if you donʻt have 4wd) down forest road R-1. Youʻll see a big round metal stock tank. Park there. DO NOT PARK ON GRASS (this area is VERY dry and at risk for fire). There is a trail here that goes into the protected palila habitat in the māmane forest. There are livestock-exclusion fences and in two places you will need to climb over a short fence-ladder to cross the wire. Here, you will see Hawaiiʻs true dryland forest habitat. Youʻll find TONS of ʻamakhi here, along with the rare Mauna Kea subspecies of ʻelepaio. This is the only place you're likely to find the extremely rare palila. Chances of finding one are pretty slim. I've been trying for four years and still haven't found one, but a friend of mine there DID see one last year. Regardless, it's still a great bird photography spot and shows a very different type of Hawaiian ecosystem.

* Hōlei Sea Arch (Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP) - At the very end of Chain of Craters Road, you'll find Hōlei Sea Arch. This is where you can find colonies of nesting Black Noddies. Also just a great photo spot in general. Bring a long lens for the Noddies.

* Kīlauea Iki Trail (Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP) - Easy to find near the main area of the park. Before you descend to the Kīlauea Iki crater, this winds through an ʻōhiʻa forest teaming with ʻamakihi and ʻapapane. Occasionally you may find an ʻomaʻo here, too. You'll also find some of the invasives, like Kalij Pheasants and Japanese White-Eyes.

* Kīpukapuaulu (Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP) - This trail is outside of the main gate of the park, so if you're in the park you have to leave and drive a little. Turn left when you exit the main park, then turn right onto Mauna Loa Road and drive up to the trailhead. An easy hike through a kīpuka with all the more malaria-resistant natives (ʻapapane, ʻamakihi, ʻelepaio, etc) NOTE: This location is infected with ROD (Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death) fungus. There will be a shoe cleaning station. Use it before and especially AFTER your hike. You will need to first brush your shoes off (bottom and sides!) and then spray them down with the rubbing alcohol solution in a spray bottle. The bottle should be by the trailhead and foot brushing station. This is extremely important to prevent the spread of ROD, especially if you are photographing in other areas of the island where it hasn't reached it yet.

If you're looking for nēnē, check any golf course, lol. They frequent any grassy areas where they can forage. Good chance of seeing them at Queens' Marketplace, but not a great photo spot. I had better luck photographing them at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP. Found a bunch of them at the Devestation Trail trailhead. They love the ʻohelo berries that grow in that area.

For non bird sites...

You can also find endangered Hawaiian monk seals (ʻIlio-holo-i-ka-uaua in Hawaiian) on some beaches, particularly on the Kona side. But it's not as common to spot them outside of the pupping season. Also, if you DO see them... keep your distance. Both locals and the local authorities come down hard on tourists who harass the seals. I've had better luck seeing them while on boats. Had them come right up to the side of the boat when I was diving off Kona a few years ago.

Sea turtles are also prevelant on some beaches, but there's no guarantee of seeing them. I've had good luck at Punaluʻu black sand beach and sometimes find them sunning themselves there, but it's always a crapshoot. As with seals, keep your distance.

And that's just a few! But these are my favorite spots. Happy to answer any questions, too! This is a place I love and frequent and have gotten to know pretty well.
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
We usually visit the Big Island in January. Some of the wildlife and birds are seasonal.

We had good luck seeing and photographing native Hawaiian forest birds in the Hakalau National Forest Wildlife Refuge. It's on the eastern slopes of Mauna Kea. In addition to the native forest birds, we also saw the native Hawaiian hawk (both light and dark morphs) and short-eared owl. You need to go with a guide there. We went with a Hawaiian Forest & Trails guided group. I would do that again.

We often see green sea turtles on the beach at the Kaloko Honokohau National Historic Park, which is just south of the Kona Airport. You will often see Pacific golden plovers, wandering tattlers, night herons (fishing), ruddy turnstones, and sanderlings there too. There is also a fish pond/pool just inland of the beach. We often see black-necked stilts, Hawaiian coots, white-faced ibis, night herons and other birds there. The park can be hot in the afternoon.

We often see nene in Hawaiian Volcanos National Park and on other hikes. (The Kilauea Iki hike in the park is our favorite hike on the island. Not necessarily a wildlife hike, but we often see Kalij pheasants in the foreseted part of the hike.)

We usually stay at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and there are usually nene and Pacific golden plovers along the hikes in the area (there is a nice coastal trail here too) and on the golf course. You'll also see non-native birds there. Mongoose. Interesting geckos and other lizards. We have seen many humpback whales, dolphins, and an occasional monk seal while hiking along the coast here.

We have done whale watching trips from the Kawaihae Harbor. We've always seen some whales and several times the action has been spectacular. (Humpback whales are only there seasonally -- generally in the winter months.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top