Oahu Part 8 – Final Chapter
On our last morning on Oahu, just hours before our plane was to take off, we dared to squeeze in one more hike. Tomas’s legs had healed enough to walk normally and I couldn’t resist another chance for seabirds. Makapu`u Point Hike on the southeastern point of the island is rumored to have amazing sunrises…
Oahu Part 4 – James Campbell NWR
The James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge is located in Oahu’s northernmost point of North Shore. Named after a Scots-Irish industrialist and wealthy landowner and once the site of a major sugar mill factory, the former sugar cane settling ponds are now comprised of 1100 acres of critical coastal wetlands, managed by the U.S. Fish &…
Oahu Part 3 – Waimea Valley
I had an endemic reason to visit Waimea Valley. A “species and subspecies that evolved in Hawaii and are found nowhere else in the world.” The prize lay conveniently just beyond the ticket booth. The Hawaiian Gallinule (also called Hawaiian Moorhen, Common Hawaiian Gallinule, Common Hawaiian Moorhen) is a subspecies of the Common Gallinule. A…