Mike in the Wild

For the first time outside of a summer month, I visited Kauai in April.  In fact, of my many trips to the Hawaiian Islands, it was only my third time not traveling to the state in the summer.  It  was also my very first springtime visit to Hawaii.   On my only visit to Hawaii in the winter, to the Big Island a year ago in February, I was overjoyed by the number of humpback whales I witnessed near the shore.  However on this recent April trip to Kauai, I was just missing whale season, the last of the behemoths having already departed for their feeding grounds in the Arctic.  Nesting seabirds were also on my mind as a number of species lay their eggs and and raise their young on Kauai.  Several albatross, shearwater, tropicbird, booby, and a frigatebird species all congregate on a specific peninsula, Kilauea Point, on the north shore of the island.  The site of an historic lighthouse, the area is now a National Wildlife Refuge.  Some of th...