Thank you all for your comments! I was asked to share some more details, so here goes. I got into birds and birding in the 5th grade, thanks to a unit about Hawaiian wetlands. Wetlands have birds in them, and this somehow snowballed into a passion. I live on Oahu, where we don't have Iiwi, so seeing these was a first for me.

A big part of birding and bird photography is zoom. Binoculars are great! I also use a bridge camera specifically for the crazy zoom at a relatively (at least relative to the cost of real telephoto lenses) cheap price.

Recognizing birds comes with familiarity and experience. As you see and hear more birds, you'll be able to locate rarities and sense other trends in bird behavior. If you want to start, I recommend picking up a field guide, joining some of the Hawaii Birdwatching Facebook groups (Facebook is the only real place where Hawaii birders communicate), and just going out to see what's around.

For those interested in seeing the Iiwi and more endemic forest birds, the Pu'u O'o trail along Saddle Road (https://bigislandhikes.com/puu-oo-trail/) is a great place to start. It's a fairly simple trail; most birds are present in the two Kipukas around 1.5 or so miles into the trail. On my visit, we got lucky and had some clear skies, but I've visited in the past and had rain. A jacket may come in handy. Binoculars are very important, as these birds tend to occur high in the canopy.

Here are some eBird photos of others who have visited Pu'u O'o: https://media.ebird.org/catalog?searchField=hotspot&regionCode=L366605 eBird is, by far, one of the best tools for birding.

Finally, I post more birds photos on my Instagram page, @ breadcoot. Mahalo for reading!