The previous day we left too early to get anything special to eat so today is the day we want to try some specialties. We use the free coupons provided by the hotel to buy some special coffee and go to the nearby mall to buy some malasadas. Both are great and refreshed we are ready for the rest of the day.
We have more time as usual in the morning because our big goal for the day Kilauea Point NWR is open only by reservation and ours is at 10AM so even with a 30 minutes drive we can leave later than usual. The drive is uneventful and already on the approach road we see nenes which is a good sign.
First we visit the visitor center which has some nice exhibits and a good gift shop so we explore it thoroughly before continuing on.
Outside there are quite a few birds flying, nenes among them. White-tailed Tropicbird are quite common here also but they are not the reason we are here as we have seen them all around Kauai.
One of our target birds, the Great Frigatebird, is easy to see as one is preening in a tree next to the visitor center, The second target bird, the Laysan Albatross, is a bit more difficult but a ranger is showing us one far away in the woods. Even though we have seen one we still want to see one closer so we continue on the short trail.
There are some nice views from the visitor center balcony especially of the lighthouse which we hope to visit a bit later.
But before the lighthouse we have to take photos and enjoy a Wedge-tailed Shearwater chick who is just exiting the burrow. He is quite hesitant and after some exploration retreats back to the safety of the nest, quite a cool experience.
Continuing towards the lighthouse we examine the other shore where the trees are full of birds mostly red-footed boobies.
Unfortunately you cannot enter the lighthouse but you can walk around it and look for birds. The island at the end which was full of nesting birds just a month ago is now mostly empty so we mostly look for flying birds as they like to do flyovers over the lighthouse point.
The Great Frigatebirds especially are impressive in flight. After seeing one in the tree that didn’t look so big it is unexpected to see one in flight, the wings are quite huge.
And we get our fish to also see a Laysan Albatross in flight. In fact we can follow it for quite some time as it lands near the lonely one that the ranger pointed out to us, they are just coming back to nest.
The most common birds however are red-footed boobies and nenes, they are all around us and quite fun to watch. After spending two hours birdwatching and enjoying the nature we have to leave unfortunately to find something to eat as we are getting hungry.
