In between swimming lessons, we had the brilliant idea to go swimming in the ocean. I guess you can't get enough swimming when you live on an island. We went to a tide pool at a 'resort' called Maliu Mai. 
We stopped into the Park's Visitor Center and my parents looked around for a bit at the displays of shells, traditional handicrafts, and more. There are Samoan women who demonstrate weaving and they were working on a very large mat. They said it takes them 2-3 months to finish one mat! We continued on our drive to the National Park. Along the way, we passed by the tuna canneries. After experiencing the smell, my mom said she may not be eating tuna again anytime soon! After seeing one of the ugliest sights on the island, we turned off to one of the most beautiful -- the National Park. The road heads almost straight up, proving almost too much for our little Kia. At the top of the first mountain, there is a great view of Pago Pago and surrounds.
The islands of American Samoa have a surprisingly diverse group of birds considering their remote geographic location. A wide range of resident seabirds as well as forest birds call our islands home. These birds enrich our forests and shores with their calls and, luckily for us, some of our most striking birds also happen to be some of our most common. Even more surprising is that our most attractive birds, the honeyeaters, are often found close to villages because of the abundant flowers in gardens. We have two types here in American Samoa, the cardinal honeyeater, and the wattled honeyeater. Both primarily feed on flower nectar, though neither actually eats honey.
The cardinal honeyeater is the territory’s smallest bird. Reaching only 9cm, they resemble a hummingbird in size. In fact, since our islands are devoid of hummingbirds, these little birds have taken up that role. They can actually be seen hovering in front of flowers sipping the nectar, although perched on the flower is the more common feeding behavior.
While nectar forms the bulk of the diet, they also opportunistically eat insects and spiders. The wattled honeyeater is a comparable giant next to the cardinal honeyeater. They measure 19cm, and their fearless and aggressive nature makes them less wary than many other forest birds. Primarily nectivorous, the wattled honeyeater is also known 
to include soft fruits and berries in its diet. It is also more likely to include insects and spiders into its diet and because of its larger size is even able to occasionally capture small geckos and skinks (lizards). Favorite nectar gardens are jealously guarded, especially from the introduced red-vented bulbuls, which have become the wattled honeyeaters nemesis. The wattled honeyeaters’ aggressiveness and size are very useful as it allows them to drive off other larger birds especially around nest, including the introduced mynas and bulbuls. These fearless birds are also helpful to others as they sound the alarm call at the first sight of danger especially if a barn owl, their main predator, is sighted.
Males and females are both olive-green with a large yellow patch of bare skin under the eye. Their nest is strung underneath horizontally forked branches and is made of fine grass stalks, vine tendrils, rootlets, and spider silk. Usually only a single egg is laid during the summer months. It is reddish-brown with dark speckles. Both parents rear the offspring for a considerable time. This bird is endemic to the region (western Polynesia and Fiji) and it is our most familiar native bird.
We’ve been talking about backpacking on the island for awhile now. It is one of our favorite activities and it has been missing in our tropical life. We left most of our gear behind in Michigan, but were able to borrow what we needed. Our friend Markus joined us (unfortunately, sans Liz, as she was sick) and two bat researchers from Hawaii, Adam and Susannah. We loaded up our gear and headed out for the summit of Mount Alava. It is a 3.6 mile trek along a ridgeline to the top of the mountain. 
The trail is gorgeous with solid jungle on one side and panoramic views of the Pacific off to the other. Everywhere you look there is green, with the exception of the flowers (to the right is a native orchid). The whole trail is great for bird watching. We saw cardinal and wattled honeyeaters, mynas, Polynesian starlings, swiftlets, tropicbirds, and fairy terns. We heard doves, but did not get to see them. I really want to see a many-colored fruit dove at some point. 
The view from the top of Mt. Alava is stunning (the picture banner across the top of our blog was taken here). The National Park has a fale at the top of the mountain, where w
e pitched our tents. There is now a notebook for visitors to sign and I was surprised to see how many people have been on the top of Mt. Alava in the last six months. Hopefully, my parents can add their names next week! After a bit of a rest (and Emma asking multiple times when dinner was going to be ready), we cooked some food. It never ceases to amaze me how tasty everyday food is when cooked outdoors after a long hike. With the little day light we had left, we played Scrabble and cards. It was cloudy out so the sunset and star gazing were a bit disappointing, but we did see some cool views of the “greater” Pago Pago area at night. It almost made me feel like I was looking down on a big metropolis. As expected, the mosquitoes became unbearable as night set in so we called it an early night and crawled into our tents.
Before going to sleep, the bat researchers asked if anyone wanted to join them on their morning jaunt to look for a bat roost. Given that it involved a 6 a.m. wake-up call and that I had already seen bat roosts, I opted out. Emma, however, was quite excited to join Adam and Susannah. The alarm went off the next morning and without any encouragement, Emma got up, got herself dressed, ate a granola bar, and grabbed her backpack. They ended up seeing 14 flying foxes and Emma was quite excited that her name was added to the researchers' observation sheets. Emma, our little bat researcher, came back a couple hours later filled with excitement.
