BIG ISLAND - LAVA - FOREST

VOLCANO:  FIRE and FOREST

SEPTEMBER 2012

Sunday 9/2

This was the third year we ventured up to Volcanoes National Park after Gil’s Kona canoe race.  Since there is great snorkeling in between the two locations, we just try to make it by dark.  We stayed in a cabin in Volcano Village from Sunday thru Wed, minutes from the park entrance. It is always chilly at night and we need to rinse the remains of the salt off before donning jeans, socks, boots and coats. Then its off to Jagger Museum on the rim of Kilauea caldera rim. 

Halema'uma'u at dusk   

(hall-eh-ma-oo-ma-oo)

            The entire Kilauea Caldera is closed to hiking and including driving around crater rim drive.  The crater within is bubbling and boiling is called Halema’uma’u.  Sulfur dioxide fumes are monitored and visitors warned to check levels daily, it was not a factor while we were there.  Glowing with reddish heat, we decide to come back later tomorrow night, dressed in even warmer.

Monday 9/3 Labor Day

We needed a rest and the rain shifted between light and heavy mist.  Between short excursions in the park it was nice &cozy in the cabin with our tree fern view.

From cabin porch - left to car, right to jacuzzi, all surfaces are shiny wet

We sort of put up with a very limited kitchen to have these windows, a very nourishing view

           The Koa and Ohia forest remind us of Koke'e on Kauai which we dearly love, but the tree ferns tell us this is the Big Island. 

Ohia Lehua - canopy of the forest


Skies alternate between blue and gray, sun and drizzle in a rain forest

 Koa trees and Tree Ferns

the other major ingredients of the Hawaiian forest

Valley ferns

Looking down at the tops of 25' tall tree ferns, I have to watch my step; its a long way down

We cruised the familiar visitor center and wonderful art gallery with many informative displays and of course souvenirs.  I usually try to show support by buying a book from their great selection.  This time it was Isabella Abbott’s La’au Hawaii, a book on ethnobotany that I have nearly worn out from the Princeville Library while doing my research.  I’m such an Abbott fan now, it was a satisfying purchase.  

I realize I am happy with endless amounts of blue water and green forest but I burn out on the fire, a little goes a long way.  All the displays are about lava and much of the art work is vivid red.  So, tomorrow, Tuesday, we head to the coast to snorkel at Kapoho tidepools.

(see post : Big Island Ocean/Mantas/Coral – midway down is the Puna tidepools story).

 Tuesday 9/3

  Quenched from our water fix, we returned to the cabin for dinner then bundled up, got our headlamps and went back to the overlook.  It was a clear night and the stars were brilliant.  The red glow was exciting again, in the very chilly air.

 Halema'uma'u after dark

According to a temperature chart in Jagger Museum, 
yellow is 2000 degrees,orange 1650, and bright red is 1300 degrees!

Wednesday 9/4  
Keauhou Bird Conservation Center

            We had an appointment at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center in Volcano.  The project is a joint effort between San Diego Zoo, Hawaii State Conservation, and Fish and Wildlife, with the heaviest burdon on SDZ.  Kamehameha School has a large tract of land and rents 150 acres to the group dirt cheap.  We visited last year but it took three months to set it up.  Since we are repeaters, it was easier this year even though the director had changed.  Rosanna Leighton would not let me blog her picture (shy) and I will have to go through some hoops to use any photographs in my book of the facility or of the birds they are trying to save from extinction. 

            ‘Alala (rhymes with tra-la-la) are called the Hawaiian Crow but the birds are actually small ravens.  Seeing these in person leaves no doubt they are ravens, especially since I recently photographed ravens in Utah.  In addition to being smaller, the feathers on these guys have a matte finish, not the shiny iridescent black of the mainlanders.  This variance is what makes/made them endemic to Hawaii where they are extinct in the wild.

While the goal a year ago was to do a gradual release once the captive population reached 100 (which it has), now they want to wait up to two more years before starting the release program.  They are also breeding several other little birds at the center and this year successfully released eleven Kauai Thrush or Puaiohi (poo-eye-oh-hee) back into Koke'e.  Yeah!  Thank you San Diego Zoo Global for your foresight and dedication to our natural world. 

Mahalo, Rosanna and gang.

My guess L to R:  'Alala, Maui Parrotbill, Puaiohi, and Palila

Out and about, on the opposite side and east of the large caldera, lies the Kilauea Iki crater and the nearby Thurston Lava tube.  Hiking can be done across this old crater floor and there are trails along its rim and down into and through the lava tube (which just feels like a very long cave in the forest). 

Iki (ee-kee) Crater 
Moody with off and on mist, the Halema'uma'u sulfur cloud is in background

          Close up of cracked floor with steam escaping.  I've never been tempted to the trail that crosses the barren landscape below when the forest and birds are up here on the rim.  I have done my share of trekking across lava elsewhere seeking out cultural sites and at tidepools.

The crater surface looks like the crust on fudge rather than fairly smooth lava

            For me the best part of this area is the forest and birdsong.  I can hear I’iwi (ee-ee-vee) and see Apapane (ah-pa pa-nay), both little red birds, also little flashes of the green Amakihi.  They are very hard to capture on film (or pixels).  Looking up from below, color turns out nearly black and white.

Apapane - a red forest honeycreeper

silhouetted among Ohia at dusk

On our last day we checked out and went to the Kipukapuaulu bird walk in the morning. Attempts have been made to restore native plants in here to draw the sadly endangered birds. 
 

Apapane drinking from Ohia blossom in daylight

without a tripod I couldn't focus any better than this, 30-40 feet over my head

                     Forest floor: native Hawaiian sword ferns and pala palai (pa-la pa-lye)

                                                         Ama’u (ah-ma-oo)  

a beautiful understory tree fern distinctive for its new leaves being red

               It turned out to be a great day for detail shots. The big trees serve as nursery or habitat for other plants and critters besides birds.

 Just for scale, here is 6'5" Gil with an old Koa

These little Koa sprouts give me hope for our world!

Gil also got into photographing elements often overlooked in the forest. 

Spider complex on one whole side of a tree

 Mystery Bark growth

Large fungus bowl on the side of a tree, 

It may look like a ceramic soap dish but is cold and soft to the touch

           We finally reached the end of the trail and left Volcano National Park and Pele's domain.  We removed layers of clothing as we descended toward Hilo, via the Kapoho tidepools for one last look at coral, often described as the rainforest of the ocean.