Hanalei Bay Resort & Kilauea Point NWR
Day 2
Hanalei Bay Resort
Our first full day in Kauai found us up very early due to the five hour time difference from Texas, and I awoke to a light rain which come to find out is relatively common in Hawaii. We walked out on patio and I noticed there were some Nene (Hawaiian Goose) on the grounds of the resort. I was blown away with no expectation of seeing them at the resort. When I was a young boy, I dreamed of seeing a Nene as the population had reached one of its lowest points in the early to mid-seventies. I quickly grabbed the Canon 5D IV and the Canon 100-400 II IS L and Mel and I headed out. Even in the rain, I was ecstatic to get to see and photograph this iconic species of Hawaii! We continued walking the grounds and the vegetation diversity and beauty was spectacular, of course, with the amount of rain Kauai receives it should. Below is a gallery of images from the grounds of the Hanalei Bay Resort.
The resort itself has spectacular grounds and the rooms were suitable. The particular unit we rented had no doors on the bedroom upstairs and a very small restroom located right off the kitchen. Not a good combination. Parking is limited and you have something of a hunt for a spot if you come in late. The pool and hot tub are wonderful and I am not a pool type guy as I never understand spending a ton of money to leave home and then go sit in a pool. For birders, there are a lot of birds on the grounds proper and driving back and from the resort. It is only about 8 miles from Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge and 2 miles from Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge. I will go over experiencing these two wildlife refuges more in-depth in a future post.
Images from Hanalei Bay Resort
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Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
After a photographing around the Hanalei Bay Resort grounds, I was anxious to head over to Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge as almost all the birds found in July at the refuge would be life birds for me and something I had never photographed. I will do a separate post on visiting and photographing the refuge and how you can make the most of a trip to the refuge. The scenery, albeit beautiful, pales in comparison to the beauty of the refuge’s breeding birds. The refuge hosted more Nene’s walking around the grounds and lighthouse. However, the stars of the show were the two (2) species of tropicbird, Red-tailed and White-tailed. The arial acrobatics of the White-tailed and the way the Red-tailed’s would kite into the wind provided numerous photography opportunities and challenges. The slower moving Great Frigatebirds grant the photographer an exposure challenge in ever changing light conditions, while the Ref-footed Boobies would soar or glide by as they headed back and forth from their nests to the ocean. An occasional Brown Booby would suddenly appear much to my delight and a I did manage some excellent images; however, the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters would often shoot out so fast and close to the water’s surface that the distance and speed would prove challenging to say the least. Then, there is the Newell’s Shearwater which comes out so late at night that images are impossible, but not listening to its donkey-like braying call.
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