Mike in the Wild

Of the three ways to visit Kauai's Na Pali Coast, flying overhead in a helicopter was the least interesting to me.  It also cost the most, so it was easy to rule it out on my already-expensive vacation.  I decided on the two other visits, however: one by hiking, the other by boat.  Each was a completely different way to witness some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.  Panoramic view of the Na Pali Coast from a tour boat. Na Pali Coast from the Pihea Trail. Superlatives abound on Kauai.  It is the oldest and remotest of the main Hawaiian Islands, lying furthest west than the others.  It was also the first island to be settled by the ancient Polynesians and the first to be visited by Captain James Cook, the first European to land on any Hawaiian island.  Finally, it's home to the wettest spot on Earth, where over 460 inches of rain a year falls.  As a result, the verdant island is referred to as the Garden Island.  Thanks to Kauai's ...

I recently wrote about Hawaiian honeycreepers, endemic birds to these Pacific islands that have struggled for survival due to the destruction of their habitats and, more recently, climate change.   Several cling to survival, but most species in this diverse family of birds have gone extinct.  But there is another family of endemic birds, the monarch flycatchers, that have fortunately fared better over the millennium that Hawaii has shared its landscape with mankind.  Monarch flycatchers are Old World passerine birds that populate sub-Sahara Africa, Southeast Asia, Australasia and some Pacific Islands.  The Hawaiian birds in the family make up their own genus, chasiempis.   And the three islands they inhabit are also the unique homes of the three separate endemic species in the genus: the Oahu 'elepaio, the Hawaii 'elepaio, and the Kauai 'elepaio. The three species of 'elepaios seem to have a greater immunity to the mosquito-born diseases that have ...