Volcano National Park, Big Island, Hawaii

  

This is the frontline in conservation, literally, as this national park marks the point where the endemic meets the introduced on the island of Hawaii. When man first arrived on the island they cut down a lot of the lowland forest, and then when western man (accidentally) introduced avian malaria, a lot of endemic birds became restricted to remote inaccessible places, above the altitude that malaria could exist. This meant places like Volcano National Park are so important to the endemic birds, because it is one of the last places in which they can survive. And the battle has to be won here as most of these species are not found anywhere else in the world. When they're gone they're gone and the earth loses yet more valuable treasure.

 

Ghost of the forest

 



The National Park covers a vast area of the southern part of the island, and as well as indigenous forests it also encompasses large areas of lava flows, an area that resembles the surface of the moon. There were no active lava flows at the time we visited, the last one was in 2018. It was a bit disappointing, I thought, rather naively that there would be erupting volcanoes bellowing lava into the air.
In the end we took two days to look at the park, which just about covered the most easily observable places, but really you could spend a lifetime here.

 

 

There is no real habitation in the park, a concept alien to the UK which has villages and towns within theirs. Even though there was a visitors centre, there was no café or restaurant, so if you need something to eat or drink, then you can visit the nearby town of Volcano, which had several such places, kept alive by Eco dollars.

 

The birdwatching was hard going. There were areas where the birds were, such as the native woodlands, but the huge areas of lava flows were fairly barren, with nothing much to see there.

 

Chain of Craters Road.

This road was the main access route to the National Park, travelling from the high altitude of the entrance all the way down to where the lava meets the sea. The road traversed many different habitats of the park. It descended quite rapidly in places as the road drops several thousand feet from the summit to the cliffs looking over the sea.

 

 

There were various stops along the road, and there were lots of hiking trails, but it was hard to find many short walks, even a little away from the road, in what was a fairly impenetrable landscape of sharp rocks and little else.

 

 

Kilauea Iki

This is a small crater, overlooked by native forest. I would see my first forest endemic here, the APAPANE, a nice scarlet bird, one of the more common native species, which was barely viewable in the canopy.

The most common bird of the forests, found in small flocks, is the JAPENESE WHITE-EYE (Japan, obviously) and most sightings were of this bird, a little green bird, with a big white eye. However birds sightings were hard to get, even of the commoner introduced birds.

 

 

 

Kilauea Iki Crater, relatively small when compared with the main crater

 



Bird watching is really difficult in these Hawaiian forests, a lot of birds were in the canopy many metres above, and although there were lots of bird song, it was seeing them that was difficult. The forests were so thick that even though there was a lot of flickering movement, I just couldn't quite turn these into concrete sightings.

From the forest on the hills the path made its way down to a, relatively, small crater. You could hike across this crater, but we didn't do this and instead headed over to the main crater.

 



 Native jungle, dense and impenetrable
 

Devastation Trail

Nothing prepares you for the sheer scale of Halema'uma'u, the main crater of the national park, as you emerge from forest and stand on the viewpoint looking down. Words can't really explain it except, maybe, that it is huge. It was caused by an explosion which really carved out a massive hole in the earth. The crater was deep with forbidding steep walls, there was no way down, unless you fell. In the end we got ok views, the lookouts didn't get close to the edge, but we were still able to get a good impression, one that was of an overwhelming immensity.

The path started out in thick luxurious forest, however as we neared the crater, the trees began to clear, with the black rock starting to show through, until the forest thinned.
The newer lava flows had less vegetation, as it was difficult to put roots down in the hard surface, until the forest became just the odd tree, and eventually there was nothing growing and it was just barren rock. It was a fascinating example, showing the rate of succession of wildlife returning through the lava flows, new life appearing out of barrenness.

Devastation trail was along a road closed for cars as it was broken up by an eruption in 2018

 

In the forests I saw my second endemic, the HAWAIIAN AMAKIKI, a small greenfinch like bird, which I saw feeding from a red flower growing in the tree tops. Once again there was a lot of bird calling, just none of them were particularly observable.

Halema'uma'u Crater

WHITE TAILED TROPICBIRDS nest in the steep crater walls and the odd bird was seen flying lazily around.
 

 

Southern Chain of Craters Road
As the Chain of Craters road descended down from the heights of the entrance, what was thick forest opened up to expose lava flows, barren black rock in which only the odd tree would grow. The southern half was just complete lava flows, a vista of a landscape that would resemble the moon more than a tropical island. It was vast, flowing to the horizon, and it descended down steep hills, to empty out into the sea in huge cliffs.
It was otherworldly, and absolutely beautiful, a place totally unique in the world and one that must be seen.

 Petroglyph at Pu'u Loa - carvings in the lava

 

We eventually came across some NENE in the park, a pair walking along the road, completely oblivious to the cars held up by them. One guy, obviously a local didn't seem to care for them and in the end almost ran them over.

 



Holei Sea Arch

Holei Sea Arch

 



Right down at the bottom of Chain of Craters Road is Holei Sea Arch, an amazing example of lava cliffs, a place where during active eruption the lava meets the sea. Around these cliffs were BLACK NODDIES, dark tern like birds, which nest here.

 

 

Kipukapuaulu Bird Park
Separate from the main national park is the Bird Park, an area of indigenous forest isolated by surrounding lava flows. It is a last bastion of endemic forest life, one of the few that are easily accessible. To enter the forest we had to disinfect our shoes just in case we were carrying any alien seeds on them.
The forest was really dense, really thick and impenetrable, with little light reaching us towards the bottom.

The deep, impenetrable forest.

 

One endemic I was able to see was the ELEPAIO, around six feet up in the trees, which gave several views. This is a unique form of this species found only on this area of Big Island.

KALIJ PHEASANT (Himalayas)

 

A bird which was really obvious was the KALIJ PHEASANT (Himalayas) very common in the undergrowth, a bird which is spreading very quickly in the forests of Big Island. It is a beautiful bird but again something that has been introduced to the island.

This bird park was created in the 1920s, by some conservation pioneers, who even in those times realised what was being lost and what needed to be protected. As a result they were able to safe guard some of the last areas of indigenous forest for everyone, for the ages, and for that we must be thankful.