hawai'i

heres some pics from a job on the big island of hawai'i studying palila, a native honeycreeper. we were tranlocating captured birds from the western side of mauna kea (the worlds largest mountain) to the north side. hopefully establishing a second population, ensuring the species' survival in the case of catastrophe. we lived in volcano on the southeastern side of the island outside of hawai'i volcanoes nat'l park.

team palila: top l to r; ian, josh, bobby, emily, me, i forgot, rob bottom l to r; jenn, sara, carter, dre, aran

the male palila in all his splendor


melodie, emily, jenn, becky, bobby, sara, me, carter, aran at the sheraton on the big island

carter and i before a hike to the active pu'u o'o lava cone

cresting the cone, looking back over the kilauea lava field

sunset behind the cinder cones, this is really a once in a lifetime experience. the cone is dormant most of the time but we were lucky to come on a afternoon with favorable winds keeping the noxious gases blowing out to sea and active erupting lava. absolutely amazing, the most intense feeling i can imagine, we couldnt pull ourselves away

carter and i looking tough

the largeousity of the cones, even from there the heat was too intense to keep facing it. the spurting liquid lava falling around us added to the fun, keeping us on our toes

night only added to the intensity

how can you not love that flippin' guy!! aran with an amakihi