On the first day of the Waikamoi Rare Bird Search I counted on the famous Hawaii Forest Bird Survey (HFBS) Transect 3. We followed the transect from the conifer plantations of Hosmer's Grove down into the native forest down to 5300 feet elevation. We expected to reach the fenceline, but eventually were turned back by increasing 'uluhe. The day started out with gusty winds and blowing mist. It was fairly wet at points, but in the afternoon the wetness decreased.

The first photo shows how the upper edge of the native forest looks. I neglected to take any photos of the conifer plantations. The later photos are deeper into the forest, until the last photo showing some 'uluhe and the thickness of the vegetation. I posted more photos from the upper end of transect 3 in last year's rare bird search report. https://pbase.com/bkrownd/20090918 In the lower end of the transect we went through a section with many clermontia tuberculata, but unfortunately none of them had any flowers OR fruit.

It did not take long for us to hear our first Maui parrotbill (MAPA) and 'akohekohe (AKOH). The parrotbill voice threw me at first, being higher and not as robust as I remembered, so I initially thought it an imitation by another bird. However, we had encounters with other parrotbills later in the day that confirmed the voice. The first parrotbill that we actually saw was a juvenile, begging with no apparent adult nearby. (must have been out of sight) We had good views of another singing male on the way back up. We had more difficulty viewing 'akohekohe, but they were fairly numerous. On the outbound trip there were 9+ 'alauahio, 5 'akohekohe and 2 parrotbill. On the return trip there were 9 'akohekohe and 3 parrotbill, and we did not keep track of 'alauahio.

Point counts:
Station 1A: 0747 APAP-7 IIWI-1 HAAM-3 MAAL-3 JAWE-2 RBLE-1 (1 MAPA soon after)
Station 1B: 0912 APAP-7 IIWI-2 AKOH-1 JAWE-1 RBLE-2

500m transect counts: (only AKOH,MAPA,MAAL)
WTRA01: 0758-0907: MAAL-9, AKOH-3 MAPA-2

Non-500m transect counts: (only AKOH,MAPA)
Outbound: 0925-1050 AKOH-2
Return: 1125-1421 AKOH-9 MAPA-3

After returning to camp I did a little counting in the subalpine scrub and the tiny national park bit of "Hosmer's Grove".

Scrub 1602: JAWE-1 HAAM-1
scrub 1614: JAWE-1 HAAM-3 RNPH-1
scrub 1630: JAWE-1 plus shy mystery bird (EUSK?) saying sharp low "TTCHK"
grove 1652: JAWE-3 HAAM-4 HOFI-1 HOSP-2 MAAL-1
scrub 1702: JAWE-2 HAAM-1 PUEO-1 RNPH-1
gulch 1712: JAWE-3 HAAM-5 IIWI-2 APAP-3 MAAL-2
scrub 1730: JAWE-1 HAAM-2 RNPH-1