There are an awful lot of recent arrivals on the Big Island.
Not people - instead the Hawaiian islands are a text book case on the downside of animal introductions. Everywhere you go you see them, the cardinals, the mynah birds, the mongoose. And every where you go you don't see them, the nene, the mamo.
There are still some endemic species. High in the rainforest on Kilauea you'll see 'apapane flitting about, small red birds with black wings. They're honeycreepers, feeding on nectar from the trees around the craters. If you're lucky you'll get to see the rarer 'i'iwi with its scarlet beak.
Here's an 'apapane feeding on the slopes of the Kilauea Iki crater.

Kilauea, Hawaii
June 2009
Not people - instead the Hawaiian islands are a text book case on the downside of animal introductions. Everywhere you go you see them, the cardinals, the mynah birds, the mongoose. And every where you go you don't see them, the nene, the mamo.
There are still some endemic species. High in the rainforest on Kilauea you'll see 'apapane flitting about, small red birds with black wings. They're honeycreepers, feeding on nectar from the trees around the craters. If you're lucky you'll get to see the rarer 'i'iwi with its scarlet beak.
Here's an 'apapane feeding on the slopes of the Kilauea Iki crater.

Kilauea, Hawaii
June 2009