On the last morning of the trip, I woke up and took my time getting ready, covering the sunburn I'd gotten from my ferry ride with sunscreen, packing, doublechecking my bag. Checking out, I definitely felt a little sad. I wish I had at least said goodbye and thanked my roommate for being awesome. As I closed the gate behind me, I understood why a lot of the hostel volunteers just stayed.
My flight home wasn't until the night, giving me roughly twelve hours on the island. Like every other day I'd experienced on Maui, the morning was warm, sunny with a wind that was just picking up. I walked to Kanahā Pond and took to the shade and windbreak of the viewing kiosk. I would stay there about three hours, hanging out with the Black-necked Stilts.
I would also get some distant views on a bird I had been looking for at the Waihe'e Refuge and Hawaiian harbors: the Wandering Tattler!
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| This Laughing Gull was also soaring around the ponds and fishing! |
From the viewing Kiosk, I walked along the sanctuary fence. I came across a Nene with a wounded wing (get better soon!) and a pack of startlingly white pigeons.
On its northern side, the wildlife sanctuary boundary crosses the road and extends to the beach. After walking a bit of the sand, I stumbled, almost literally, upon my second sea turtle of the trip.
I thought about moving around the turtle to get some better pictures of its face, but it just looked so lazy and tired that I didn't want to bother it, so after these quick shots, I carried on my way. The beachside trail went past some sort of protected, artificial-looking pond which was filled with stilts, turnstones, and domestic Mallards. There was also a group of Nene resting on the grass.
The trail dumped me off into a small parking lot for the beach. I would spend the last of my free time in Maui where I started it, Kanahā Beach. I found a rare bench with shade and kicked my shoes off my tired feet.
Early on the trip, I had kept thinking I would give myself a rest day. It never happened. I'm glad I pushed myself. Throughout the week I kept a running total of the miles I walked and hiked. After a few days, I thought I would break 50 miles. Before the end of my trip, I realized I could hit 60 and made that a goal. By the time I reached the OGG airport security, I'd completed a minimum of 61.2 miles. Maybe not crazy compared to a serious backpacker or marcher, but I was pretty happy. More so, I was ecstatic with the whole of the trip. Fun hiking. Great birding. Good times at the hostel. Saw many new places. Everything even went pretty damn smooth.
After going through airport security, I got a good stretch in and walked around the terminal. After the sun fell, I was shepherded onto the plane and was soon jumping through time zones, chasing sunlight on the way to Sky Harbor.
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| One of the last birds I would count for the trip, a Rock Pigeon flying over PHX. |
The flights were fine (although I would soon wind up with what I'm 99.9% sure was COVID). By Monday evening, I was home, making dinner, thinking about a meeting I had the next morning.
To sum it up: awesome. There are so many places I want to go to see birds, but I do think I'll get back to Maui someday and maybe see some more of the other islands (and hopefully more of their endemic wildlife).
