'I'iwi - photo by Jim Denny

Much has been written about the decline of Hawaii's famous honeycreepers and other native forest birds. It is true that introduced diseases and predators have taken a tremendous toll, but not all of our native species are confined to the drawers of museum collections or to the yellowing pages of the reference library. Kauai still has much to offer. The Pihea trail remains one of the best places in Hawaii to see the 'I'iwi and other of our endemic native forest birds. Hiking into the forest in search of native flora and fauna once meant plodding through ankle deep mud in a chilling rain. The rain is still there, but the recent construction of a boardwalk by the Department of Land and Natural Resources along the Pihea and the Alakai Swamp trails has made the search a much more pleasant experience.