If you go birdwatching in Hawaii

BIRDWATCHING TOURS ON THE BIG ISLAND: Hawaii Forest and Trail tours are $155 a person; www.hawaii-forest.com/ or 800-464-1993 or 808-331-8505. Limit 10 people per tour; children must be at least 8 years old. Two birdwatching trips are offered:

— The Rainforest and Dryforest Birding Adventure takes birders into dryland forest on the west side of Mauna Kea and through misty forest on the northeastern slope of Mauna Loa.

— The Hakalau Forest Wildlife Refuge tour. Hakalau was the first National Wildlife Refuge established in the United States for forest birds; see www.fws.gov/pacific/pacificislands/wnwr/bhakalaunwr.html. The tour is offered 18 times annually.

GETTING THERE: From Honolulu, there are flights to Kailua-Kona or Hilo on Aloha or Hawaiian Airlines.

WHAT TO WEAR: Sturdy hiking shoes, a windbreaker or poncho for upper elevations.

EQUIPMENT: Binoculars, birdwatching checklist from Hawaii Audubon Society.

BIRDWATCHING ON YOUR OWN:

— Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for most of the Big Island's native forest birds, plus black noddies nesting along Chain of Craters Road.

— Aimakapa Pond in Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park for water birds such as pied-billed grebes, Hawaiian stilts and Hawaiian coots.

— Puu Waa Waa along Mamalahoa Highway between Kailua-Kona and Waimea for the Hawaiian hawk, Pueo and Hawaii's state bird, the endangered nene goose.

— Puu Laau on Mauna Kea, off the Saddle Road between Waikii and Pohakuloa, is the only place to see endangered palila.

REFERENCE BOOKS: "A Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Birds" by H. Douglass Pratt; "Hawaiian Birdlife" by Andrew J. Berger; "Hawaii's Birds" from Hawaii Audubon Society; "Seabirds of Hawaii" by Craig Harrison; "A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific" by H. Douglass Pratt.