Spent a week on the Big Island in May 2021, which was our first trip to Hawaii.

Birding started on day 1 with a few lifers right outside our resort balcony in Kailua-Kona. Then it slowed down until a wonderful day of birding the Hakalau Rain Forest with local guide and legend Jack Jeffrey. We saw almost all the forest endemics, including one of the rarest birds in the world, the Akipolaau (only about 800 exist now). 

​My total counts for this trip were 38 species, 22 lifers, 14 endemics (if one counts the Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl, which is actually a sub-species).