Saturday brought lots of rain to the windward side. After sleeping in I went up to the nearest dry (and hunter-free) area available to me - Mauna Loa Strip Road. When I arrived at Strip Road the weather was partly cloudy with intermittent blowing mist. It was really perfect weather for bird counting: not too hot or cold, not too wet or dry, and not too sunny or overcast. The birds were relatively active all afternoon. I started at the upper edge of Kipuka Puaulu and counted at fairly regular intervals up to the intersection with Powerline Road. The attached counts show how highly concentrated the 'apapane were at either flowering 'ohi'a or the tallest koa and manele. The last big 'apapane count was a big wave of birds heading upslope/North to roost. Other birds were pretty thinly spread. I was surprised by the low 'oma'o count.

I've pretty much exhausted most of the interesting plant discoveries/observations along Strip Road, but the one interesting thing that caught my eye was a profusely flowering pawale, with beautiful pink puffball flowers and shiny white seed pods.

I've attached a map of the count sites. The counts in the table are ordered by increasing elevation along Strip Road, instead of by time. (I'd park in a central spot and count both up and down the road from the car) I also attached a view of the Mauna Loa Strip from the summit of Kilauea, showing how it looks from another angle.

Bird Counts: (Species Codes Here)

station	time	APAP	HAAM	OMAO	ELEP	JAWE	HOFI	YFCA	RBLE	NOCA	KAPH	ERFR	Notes
Kipuka Puaulu	1310	8	1		3	14	1		2	1		2	koa-manele
Kipuka Ki	1355	4				8	1		1				koa-manele
Kipuka Ki	1340	11	3		2	5	2	3					koa-manele
Kipuka Ki	1420	6	2		1	7					3		'ohi'a-koa
Kipuka Ki	1436	11	4	1		10							'ohi'a bloom
Kipuka Ki	1450	21	6		2	11					1		'ohi'a bloom
Cattleguard	1507	1			1	5				1			koa-pasture
Cattleguard	1522	17	4		2	4				1			koa-pasture
Cattleguard	1536	1			2	6	3	3	3				koa-pasture
Pasture-Koa	1552	1	2		3	4				1			koa-pasture
Pasture-Koa	1604	1	2		3	5		1					koa-pasture
Pasture-Koa	1615	2	1		3	4		3					koa-pasture
Fire Pasture-Koa	1650	1	3		3					2			koa-pasture
Fire Pasture-Koa	1639		2		2	1				1			koa-'a'ali'i
Fire Pasture-Koa	1705	2	4		1	2				2			koa-pasture
Powerline Road	1816	5	4		2	5				1			koa-pasture
Powerline Road	1806	3	2		1	4					1		koa-pasture
Powerline Road	1749	4	1		4	3							koa-pasture
Powerline Road	1738	2	1		3					2			koa-pasture
Powerline Road	1727	1	1			2				1	3		koa-'a'ali'i
Powerline Road	1831	5	4			1	4						scrub on lava
Powerline Road	1842	15	4		4	5				1	3		koa-'a'ali'i
station	time	APAP	HAAM	OMAO	ELEP	JAWE	HOFI	YFCA	RBLE	NOCA	KAPH	ERFR	Notes

Birds in the count table: 'apapane, 'amakihi, 'oma'o, 'elepaio, Japanese white-eye, house finch, yellow-fronted canary, red-billed leiothrix, northern cardinal, kalij pheasant, Erckel's francolin.