Recently I had the opportunity to vacation on Oahu Island (Hawaii) and wasn't about to spend all my time sitting at a pool or on the beach; I wanted to go birding of course.

This was my first planned visit there and I really knew very little. My first step was to reach out to Ubird to see who knew what in terms of where to go and what to see. Many thanks to the multitudes of people who helped me out with tips and suggestions.

I soon gathered that Oahu and the rest of the Hawaiian islands were rampant with introduced species. I also found out that sadly, the endemics of the islands are almost all declining with many extinct or presumed extinct just in recent years. Knowing that I would only be on Oahu, I focused primarily on learning what I could about that specific island.

I divided my opportunities for birding into two different arenas. There were the ocean/shore birds and then there were the passerines. I had about a week to try to find the time to go after both while also having to balance time with family and relaxing. But I had a car and some spare time so I had to explore.

I ordered books called The Hikers Guide to O'Ahu as well as Hawaii's Birds, which became my essential study and planning tools. While on the island, I also picked up this pocket guide to Hawaii's birds and habitats - which also was of great interest to me and complemented the other two nicely. I strongly recommended all 3 for any birding trip to the island. 

I stayed in the southwest corner of the island, which put me away from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, which I later discovered was a good thing. Honolulu is insanely crowded and filled with traffic; it reminded me very much of when I lived in New York City. Worth checking out but nice to get away from as well.

My first bird sightings on Oahu were on the shuttle bus from the Airport to the rental car facility. I soon learned that Common Mynas were the Starlings of this island. They were everywhere! I also saw a pair of yellow birds feeding on the grass - which I identified as Saffron Finches. My birding was underway and just like that - 2 new lifers.

Common Mynas are indeed common on Oahu

On the drive to the hotel, I saw birds all over the place, zipping through the trees and over the freeway. As I was driving and had family members in the car, I wasn't able to do the normal crazy drive-birding I sometimes do so many were left as "unidentified". However, I was able to gather that there were a lot of Cattle Egrets around. At the hotel, as we unloaded the car, I saw many Zebra Doves, Spotted Doves and Red-vented Bulbuls. All were quite ubiquitous during my stay.

The next day, I wanted to get out and do my first exploring. My hiking guide book showed me that Ka'ena Point State Park and trail wasn't that far away. It also promised the possibility of sea birds and incredible views. This is the westernmost point on the island and a "legendary entrance to the underworld". Sounded perfect for a solo adventure.

The trail I chose lead me along the west shore of the island and out to the Northwest "point". Along the way, I started seeing some great sights and birds as shown below.

Ka'ena offered stunning views

Japanese white-eye - the name makes it a pretty quick ID

A sea arch 

A sign that I was on the right track for nesting sea birds

Northern Mockingbirds are another introduced species on the island

On my way to the point, I came across an ocean shore phenomenon called a blowhole. I was able to capture a video of it; you can hear what sounds like a whale surfacing but in fact it is just the water/air rushing through the rocks. Good thing I read about it or I might've spent some time looking for a large marine mammal.

As I got to the point, there was a predator proof fence running all the way down to the water and around the area in front of me. Later, I found out that Ka'ena's efforts with this fence are highly reknowned. I walked through the gate and began exploring, picking up several White-tailed Tropicbirds, a couple of Hawaiian Monk Seals, several Laysan Albatross, and a couple of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. The area supports growing colonies of the Shearwaters and Albatross.

The predator-proof fence

This part reminded me of Jurassic Park 

The endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal; one of around 1,100 remaining 

Juvenile Laysan Albatross

White-tailed Tropicbird

Juvenile Laysan Albatross

I was able to get some video of a juvenile Albatross practicing at least the concept of flying.

I was lucky to spend another day birding with a friend (Sherry Liguori) and her coworkers who happened to be on the island as well for a work conference. We drove around the perimeter of most of the island, starting at Waikiki. Some highlights below which reflect a mix between native and introduced species.

A Red-tailed Tropicbird at Halona Blowhole

The Hawaiian Stilt (a subspecies of our Black-necked version) was cooperative at the Marine Corps Base of Hawaii

Red-crested Cardinal

The only Java Sparrows I saw on the trip

Zebra Doves were everywhere as well

The islands offshore here (Manana) served as Shearwater and Red-footed Booby colonies

Common Waxbill at Malaekahana State Rec Area

Cattle Egrets were pretty common 

I didn't get a photo of the following, but we got nice looks at a Black Noddy at the Marine Corp Base of Hawaii and a Hawaiian Coot at James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge - both good spots worth checking out.

Another recommendation I would make on a visit here, would be to hire a guide to take you kayaking. On another day, my family and I hired the good people at kailua sailboards to take us out for a paddle to an offshore island known as "Flat Island" which happened to hold a Wedge-tailed Shearwater colony as well. I was amazed at the very tame Shearwaters and their use of every nook, cranny, and bush on the small island to hide a nest and an egg.

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were all over the small island

Unafraid Shearwaters

A Wedge-tailed Shearwater egg

So I had gotten a good view of the shoreline and the ocean birds, but I still needed to head to the mountain forests and look for some endemic passerines. I picked one of my last days on Oahu and found a good place to go in the 'Aiea Loop .  It was the highlight of my trip; thick forests, majestic views, and of course amazing bird life made it a hike to remember.

My main hope was to find the endemic songbirds that realistically could be found. Those included the endangered Oahu Elepaio and the more common Amakihi of the Hawaiian Honeycreeper family.  I also hoped to see the Apapane which is found on more than one island and I had the dream of rediscovering the thought-to-be-extinct Oahu Creeper. Below are photos/videos of what I found in the forest.

White-rumped Shama

Red Jungle Fowl

Oahu Elepaio

 

The unique song of the Oahu Elepaio can be heard at the beginning of this video

Oahu Amakihi

Amazing views on this trail

Red-billed Leiothrix

The 'Aiea Loop Trail

The Hawaiian forest 

To see more pictures and videos from my trip click here. In the end, I ended up with 24 lifers and lots of great memories. I can't wait to go back.

And finally, what recap of mine would be complete without a highlight video set to music? Good birding all...

Koa-Ohia forest at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, one of the best places for seeing native forest birds on the island of Hawaii.

I have recently posted on the many introduced species on the island of Hawaii, including both the game birds and the songbirds.  While it is tempting to add a series of additional posts on native shorebirds, endemic subspecies, fish, mammals, reptiles, etc., this is a busy time of year for me and I'm realizing I might not get to those.  So, I want to jump straight to my favorite organisms on the Big Island, and the group that is probably of the most interest to the readers of this blog: the native forest birds.

Because Hawaii is separated from the nearest continents by thousands of miles, many species have evolved only on the Hawaiian Islands, and some of those are found only on individual islands.  Most of these species have evolved in the unique forests of the Hawaiian Islands.  One of the more iconic endemic forest birds is the Hawaiian Hawk, also known as the I'o.  The I'o is a species in the genus Buteo, and its closest relatives are the Galapagos Hawk, the Short-tailed Hawk, and Swainson's Hawk.  It comes in two color morphs, dark and light.

A light morph Hawaiian Hawk soars over the highway south of Kona.  (Digital composite)

Dark morph Hawaiian Hawk perched in the rain in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Hawaii also has an endemic lineage of flycatchers in the old-world family Muscicapidae.  Species in this group that might be familiar to North American birders include the Northern Wheatear and the Bluethroat.  Hawaii's flycatchers radiated into several species, each limited to one or a few islands.  On the Big Island, there is only one species, and it is only found there: the Hawaii Elepaio.  The Hawaii Elepaio is unique because it has further differentiated into three distinct subspecies on the island.  I was able to see two of the three subspecies, but only one is shown here.

Hawaii Elepaio, Hilo subspecies, along the Pu'u O'o Trail.

Hawaii Elepaio, Hilo subspecies, at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge.

Several species of thrush evolved on the Hawaiian Islands, but only one of them is still common today, and several are extinct.  The Omao is the most common of these endemic thrushes, but its range is limited to the island of Hawaii.

Omao, a species of thrush that is endemic to the island of Hawaii, along the Pu'u O'o Trail.

As cool as those three species are, the species that get people really excited about birding Hawaii are the native honeycreepers.  Hawaiian honeycreepers have been considered their own family, Drepanidae, but most ornithologists now consider them to be a subfamily, Drepanidinae, within the finches, Fringilidae.  Whatever you call it, this group of species is one of the best known examples of an adaptive radiation.  About 4 million years ago, a species of rosefinch somehow managed to colonize the islands from Asia.  Finding many open niches on the islands, it rapidly evolved into more than fifty unique species.  Sadly, these species started disappearing with the arrival of the Polynesians around 400 A.D., and their extinctions accelerated after Captain Cook's arrival in the late 1800s.  Now, only about 17 of these species remain, and 15 of those are considered endangered or vulnerable.

If you want to see native Hawaiian honeycreepers, and you can only visit one island, Hawaii is a good choice.  It has a higher diversity of native birds than any of the other islands, and is still home to seven honeycreepers, four of which are found only on that island and nowhere else in the world.  I was fortunate to be able to find six of of the seven species, missing only the Akepa.  Here are the six I did see, in order of approximate increasing rarity.

The most common Hawaiian honeycreeper on the Big Island is probably the Hawaii Amakihi, also known as the Common Amakihi.  This species is found on only the Big Island and nearby Maui, although the two are considered separate subspecies.  There is some evidence that this species has been able to evolve resistance to the avian malaria that has killed so many native birds, giving hope for the future of this species and others.

Female or immature Hawaii Amakihi on Ohia lehua flower 

Male Hawaii Amakihi on mamane flower

The second most common honeycreeper was, in my experience, the most camera shy.  The Apapane is a red bird that, together with the Hawaii Amakihi, is one of only two species of Hawaiian honeycreepers that are considered of "Least Concern." This is also the only species that is still found on all the main Hawaiian islands.

Apapane on Ohia lehua.

The Iiwi is probably the most emblematic of the Hawaiian honeycreepers.  To me, and probably to many others, this species screams "Hawaiian honeycreeper!"  They are also still fairly common on the island of Hawaii, although not doing so well elsewhere.  Recent reports have detailed dramatic declines on Kauai, and the species is nearly gone from Oahu.  This species also has a remarkable voice, sounding something like a robot to me, to accompany its remarkable appearance.

Iiwi in the rain near Hakalau Forest NWR.

Alright, now we're getting to the real goodies. . . . All three of the remaining species are found only on the island of Hawaii, and have been known from only there in historical times.  The next bird, the Akiapolaau, is probably the most remarkable remaining honeycreeper in terms of its unique bill adaptation.  It fills the niche of a woodpecker, using its straight lower bill to peck holes in wood, and its long, curved top bill to then extract insects from those holes.  There are only a few thousand of this species remaining.

Akiapolaau, adult male, along the Pu'u O'o Trail.

Although it is not the rarest species, the Hawaii Creeper was the hardest for me to find.  For one, they look very much like the common Hawaii Amakihi.  (They can be told by their straighter bill, paler throat, more extensive dark mask, and distinctive call note.)  Second, the best place to find them is in the Hakalau Forest NWR, which requires reservations and a four-wheel-drive vehicle to reach.  Third, they're just not very common.  There are still a few thousand of them left, but they are one of the least commonly observed species on the island because they are hard to get to and hard to identify.  Only after searching for several hours in the rain was I able to finally get some decent shots of this species, and only after getting the shots was I really convinced I had seen what I was looking for!

Hawaii Creeper, probably an adult male, at Hakalau Forest NWR.

A young Hawaii Creeper in the rain, somewhat more distinctive with its pale throat and fairly obvious pale supercilium.

Last is the Palila, the only finch-like honeycreeper still living in the main Hawaiian islands.  This species, unlike the others, is adapted specifically to the dry forests.  It uses its thick bill to crack open seeds of a dry forest tree, the mamane, which is shown here.  These seeds are toxic to other species, but the Palila loves them!  This was recently thought to be one of the most secure endemic species, but despite a court order in the 1980s for their habitat to be protected from the feral sheep that eat the young mamane plants, their habitat has yet to be protected.  This species has declined in numbers by about 80%, following eight straight years of population declines, and is now down to about 1,300 individuals.

Adult male Palila preparing to zip open a mamane seed pod.

Adult male Palila in mamane tree.

Seeing these rare species was an experience I'll never forget.  It was exciting to see them, but I was also left feeling very sad that these species are not getting the protection they need.  Because of the isolated nature of Hawaii and the relatively few people living there, these birds do not have the political power they need to garner the protection they require.  Hawaii has 45% of the endangered species in the U.S., but receives less than 5% funding allocated to protect endangered species.  If you'd like to help save these amazing species, consider making a donation here or here.

I previously posted about the introduced game birds of Hawaii. Those species were all introduced for hunting opportunities (for food or for recreation). But many bird species were introduced to Hawaii for more aesthetic reasons: they looked or sounded pretty. Some of these were accidental, escapees from cages, while others were intentional releases to try to enhance the beauty of the island. Here are some of the introduced songbirds I saw on my recent trip to the Big Island, arranged roughly from most to least common in my experience.

Common Myna

Common Mynas are probably the most frequently observed bird species in Hawaii.  To me, they were like an equivalent of European Starlings, which are not found in Hawaii.  They were common in lawns and gardens around the island, and at night they would gather at large communal roosts, making quite a racket as they settled in at dusk.  They were introduced from India in 1865 to control insect pests.

Japanese White-Eye

The Japanese White-Eye is a small songbird that reminded me of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in size and behavior.  They are among the most common species in some parts of Hawaii, and unlike some of the introduced species, they can be found both in the lowlands around the cities and in the higher elevations where the native birds are still found.  For this reason, and because they also sometimes feed on nectar, they are sometimes considered one of the biggest threats to the native honeycreepers among the introduced birds (disease and habitat loss are probably bigger threats overall).

Java Sparrow

Java Sparrows were also pretty common on the Kona side of the island and usually found in flocks.  This beautiful bird is very distinctive and can be recognized at a great distance with its pink bill and bold white cheek patch.  I have read that these are the most common species at bird feeders where the species occurs.

African Silverbill

African Silverbills are also a pretty common introduced species around the Big Island.  The last time I visited, in 2000, these were lumped together with what is now known as Indian Silverbills and collectively known as Warbling Silverbills.  This species likes to travel in flocks, so when you see one you'll usually see several.

Saffron Finch

Saffron Finches are very bright birds that were introduced from South America in the 1960s.  The book I have, from 1997, says that they are found on the dry side of the island, but eBird shows them over most of the island, so I believe they've spread in the last decade or two.  They are still more common on the dry side, though.

Yellow-fronted Canary

Yellow-fronted Canaries were introduced from Africa in the 1960s, and are now found on the Big Island and Oahu.  Like the Saffron Finch, they are more common on the dry side of the island but can also be found on the wet side, including some of the strongholds of the native honeycreepers.

House Finch

 House Finches are quite familiar to North American birders.  I was surprised at how many yellow morphs I saw, like this one.  Yellow morphs are somewhat rare in the mainland, but probably more common than red morphs on the Big Island.  I found them to be frequent in small numbers at all elevations I visited.

Yellow-billed Cardinal

Yellow-billed Cardinals were frequently encountered but usually singly or in pairs.  They were introduced from South American in the 1970s.  They are generally limited to the parks and gardens in the lower elevations, but we did see one at Pu'u Huluhulu on the Saddle Road at an elevation of about 6,600 feet, which is unusual.

Northern Cardinal

There were two species of cardinal on the Big Island, the second being the same Northern Cardinal that is familiar to birders from North America.  However, the Yellow-billed Cardinal is only a "cardinal" in name: it is actually a species of tanager.  Northern Cardinals were less common, and also found in small numbers.

Northern Mockingbird

I found Northern Mockingbirds to be among the rarest introduced songbird I saw.  I only saw two of this species in my two weeks on the island, and they were both at the same location.  (There are rarer introduced species that I didn't see.)  Northern Mockingbirds were introduced from North America in the 1920s, and can be found just about anywhere but are much more likely on the dry sides of the islands.

Watch for another post on Hawaii's wildlife coming soon. . . .