Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, Kauai, Hawaii
On Kauai the highest diversity of birds occurs in the Hanalei Valley, a National Wildlife Refuge since in 1972. It was protected as a nesting area for Hawaiian Duck, Hawaiian Coot, “Hawaiian Gallinule”, and “Hawaiian Stilt”, and for its importance to migratory waterfowl and shorebirds. It is the only site that hosts breeding populations of five endemic Hawaiian waterbirds—i.e., the previous four plus Hawaiian Goose, which established itself in Kauai’s lowlands through an unintentional release of captive birds in the 1990s.
Orientation
Directions
Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge is on Kauai’s north shore in Princeville, just before the village of Hanalei, along the Kuhio Highway (a.k.a. Highway 560), about 35 minutes’ drive (27.5 miles) from Lihue Airport.
Birdfinding
Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge is the continuation of traditional Hawaiian taro agricultural fields in the floodplain of the Hanalei River, which maintains the bottomlands at various progessional stages, providing habitat for waterfowl; and shorebirds and providing a few farming families with plots to cultivate.
The refuge is the global stronghold for Hawaiian Duck, which occurs year-round, and supports viable populations of Hawaii’s other endemic waterbirds, Hawaiian Goose, “Hawaiian Gallinule”, Hawaiian Coot, and “Hawaiian Stilt”, as well as Black-crowned Night-Heron and Western Cattle-Egret.
Hanalei Valley.
The bulk of the refuge is accessible via Ohiki Road, a little-traveled spur from the Kuhio Highway inland from Princeville. Conditions along Ohiki Road vary from one season to the next as the plots rotate from fallow to the stages of planting and cultivation. The traditional approach is to drive down Ohiki Road, park at the Okolehao Trail, then explore Ohiki Road on foot. (In case the small trailhead parking area is full, it is also possible to park along the Kuhio Highway across the bridge on the east side.)
From fall into spring, the refuge hosts migratory waterfowl, mostly Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail, but often other species, including Snow Goose, Brant, Cackling Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon, Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, and Bufflehead. Rare vagrants have included Tundra (“Bewick’s”) Swan and Baikal Teal.
Princeville. The resort community of Princeville has become a destination for moneyed American retirees and increasingly also for the North Pacific’s greatest avian vagabond, the Laysan Albatross, which nests annually between November and June along the northern coast of Kauai, including a few in recent years in the golf courses and neighborhoods of Princeville.
Services
Accommodations
Moderately priced accommodations are available half an hour away in Lihue. There are several pricey resorts in the immediate vicinity of Princeville:
Hale Makai Cottages, 4400 Oneone Road, 1-510-841-4474
Hanalei Bay Resort, 5380 Honoiki Road,1-877-344-0688
Hanalei Colony Resort, 5 7130 Kuhio Highway, 1-808-826-6235
Princeville Resort Kauai, 5520 Ka Haku Road
Pure Kauai, 5118 Iolani Place, 1-808-828-6570
The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, 3838 Wyllie Road, 1-808-827-8700
Food
A large grocery store, Foodland Princeville, is conveniently located on the north side of the Kuhio Highway about a mile east of the Ohiki Road junction.
Notes
Hazards & Hassles
Public access to the refuge is unfortunately restricted to Ohiki Road—which is a public right-of-way that divides the refuge into multiple parcels, but is not legally contained within the property. The official position of the refuge administration is that visitors should not stop or park along Ohiki Road, even though stopping would be a convenient way for visitors to observe the birds. Enforcement of the no-stopping rule is likely to be lenient in most cases, so the “no harm, no foul” rule is probably safe in most cases. But visitors should bear in mind that, unlike many refuge properties, this one does not afford them a right to inconvenience other drivers.
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