Nene
Anybody who's spent some time doing crosswords knows of the nene. As a four-letter word comprised of two common letters, it makes for great crossword filler. Besides being crossword filler, it is also a Hawaiian goose.
Rob and I have done many crosswords, but we had never seen a nene or even bothered to look up what it really looked like. It can be found on Maui and Hawai'i, so as soon as we arrived on Maui, we started keeping our eyes out, but saw none.
When we got to Hawai'i, we really started searching. Armed with iNaturalist, we took detours to parks to seek these geese out. There were so many marked that we thought we would have no problem at all spotting them. But we drove to park after park, and spotted none. There were tons of Muscovy ducks, mallards, a wandering tattler, and more, but not a single nene.
Our conclusion was that the nene was a myth, and we stopped going out of our way to look for one.
Then, we hiked the Devastation Trail at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. We saw a fern that I was completely enamored with.
On the return trip, we suddenly heard a honk that sounded a lot like a goose. Suddenly, in the distance, we saw some goose-shaped birds land. We beelined towards them, but couldn't get too close because they were way off the trail and we wanted to respect the environment. Nevertheless, there they were! Three nene, just standing there. Unmistakable even from a distance, with its white neck and black head. We, too, stood there, admiring them for a little while.
Now, every time we fill in the word on the morning crossword, we also think back fondly to that moment.