 | ||
This list of birds of Hawaii is a comprehensive listing of all the bird species seen naturally in the U.S. state of Hawaii as determined by the Hawaiian Audubon Society. This list is based on Robert Pyle's revision dated March 31, 2005. The scope of this list encompasses the entire Hawaiian Islands chain, from Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the north, to the "Big Island" of Hawaii to the south. The following codes define the distribution and relative abundance of species on this list:
Contents
- Ducks geese and swans
- Partridges grouse turkeys and Old World quail
- New World quail
- Loons
- Grebes
- Albatrosses
- Shearwaters and petrels
- Storm petrels
- Tropicbirds
- Frigatebirds
- Boobies and gannets
- Cormorants
- Bitterns herons and egrets
- Ibises and spoonbills
- Osprey
- Hawks kites and eagles
- Caracaras and falcons
- Rails gallinules and coots
- Cranes
- Lapwings and plovers
- Stilts and avocets
- Sandpipers and allies
- Gulls terns and skimmers
- Skuas
- Auks murres and puffins
- Sandgrouse
- Pigeons and doves
- Old World parrots
- African and New World parrots
- Cuckoos roadrunners and anis
- Barn owls
- Typical owls
- Nightjars
- Swifts
- Kingfishers
- Jays crows magpies and ravens
- Monarch flycatchers
- Larks
- Swallows and martins
- Chickadees and titmice
- Mockingbirds and thrashers
- Starlings and mynas
- Wagtails and pipits
- Thrushes
- Bulbuls
- Cettiid warblers
- Marsh warblers
- Old World flycatchers
- Laughingthrushes
- White eyes
- Honeyeaters
- Longspurs and arctic buntings
- Tanagers
- Grassquits and American sparrows
- Cardinals and saltators
- Meadowlarks and grackles
- Finches and siskins
- Hawaiian honeycreepers
- Old World sparrows
- Estrildid finches
- References
This list is presented in taxonomic order. The family accounts at the beginning of each heading reflect this taxonomy, as do the species counts found in each family account.
Ducks, geese and swans
Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae
The family Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, bills which are flattened to a greater or lesser extent, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to special oils.
Partridges, grouse, turkeys and Old World quail
Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae
Phasianidae consists of the pheasants and their allies. These are terrestrial species, variable in size but generally plump with broad relatively short wings. Many species are gamebirds or have been domesticated as a food source for humans.
New World quail
Order: Galliformes Family: Odontophoridae
The New World quails are small, plump terrestrial birds only distantly related to the quails of the Old World, but named for their similar appearance and habits.
Loons
Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae
Loons are aquatic birds, the size of a large duck, to which they are unrelated. Their plumage is largely gray or black, and they have spear-shaped bills. Loons swim well and fly adequately, but are almost hopeless on land, because their legs are placed towards the rear of the body.
Grebes
Order: Podicipediformes Family: Podicipedidae
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land.
Albatrosses
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Diomedeidae
The albatrosses are amongst the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses from the genus Diomedea have the largest wingspans of any extant birds.
Shearwaters and petrels
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterized by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.
Storm petrels
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Hydrobatidae
The storm petrels are the smallest seabirds, relatives of the petrels, feeding on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. The flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.
Tropicbirds
Order: Phaethontiformes Family: Phaethontidae
Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans, with exceptionally long central tail feathers. Their long wings have black markings, as does the head.
Frigatebirds
Order: Suliformes Family: Fregatidae
Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black or black and white, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have colored inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
Boobies and gannets
Order: Suliformes Family: Sulidae
The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.
Cormorants
Order: Suliformes Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Cormorants are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of colored skin on the face. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed, a distinguishing feature among the Pelecaniformes order.
Bitterns, herons and egrets
Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae
The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.
Ibises and spoonbills
Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Threskiornithidae
Osprey
Order: Accipitriformes Family: Pandionidae
Pandionidae is the fish-eating bird of prey, the osprey. The family is monotypic.
Hawks, kites and eagles
Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey, which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures. These birds have very large powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons and keen eyesight.
Caracaras and falcons
Order: Falconiformes Family: Falconidae
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey, notably the falcons and caracaras. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.
Rails, gallinules and coots
Order: Gruiformes Family: Rallidae
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots and gallinules. The most typical family members occupy dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
Cranes
Order: Gruiformes Family: Gruidae
Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances".
Lapwings and plovers
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Charadriidae
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.
Stilts and avocets
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds, which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
Sandpipers and allies
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of legs and bills enable multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Gulls, terns and skimmers
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, terns, kittiwakes and skimmers. They are typically gray or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet.
Skuas
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Stercorariidae
Skuas are in general medium to large birds, typically with gray or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They have longish bills with hooked tips and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. They are strong, acrobatic fliers.
Auks, murres and puffins
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Alcidae
Alcids are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colors, their upright posture and some of their habits, however they are only distantly related to the penguins and are able to fly. Auks live on the open sea, only deliberately coming ashore to nest.
Sandgrouse
Order: Columbiformes Family: Pteroclididae
Sandgrouse have small, pigeon like heads and necks, but sturdy compact bodies. They have long pointed wings and sometimes tails and a fast direct flight. Their legs are feathered down to the toes. 1 species has been introduced to Hawaii.
Pigeons and doves
Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere. All of the species listed have been introduced.
Old World parrots
Order: Psittaciformes Family: Psittaculidae
African and New World parrots
Order: Psittaciformes Family: Psittacidae
Cuckoos, roadrunners and anis
Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails and strong legs.
Barn owls
Order: Strigiformes Family: Tytonidae
Barn owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons. The barn owl is introduced to Hawaii.
Typical owls
Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae
Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk. Hawaii has one native species of owl, which is a distinct subspecies.
Nightjars
Order: Caprimulgiformes Family: Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is cryptically colored to resemble bark or leaves.
Swifts
Order: Apodiformes Family: Apodidae
The swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.
Kingfishers
Order: Coraciiformes Family: Cerylidae
Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs and stubby tails.
Jays, crows, magpies and ravens
Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae
The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, treepies, nutcrackers and ground jays. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and some of the larger species show high levels of intelligence.
Monarch flycatchers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Monarchidae
The Monarchinae are a relatively recent grouping of a number of seemingly very different birds, mostly from the Southern Hemisphere, which are more closely related than they at first appear. Many of the approximately 140 species making up the family were previously assigned to other groups, largely on the basis of general morphology or behavior. With the new insights generated by the DNA-DNA hybridisation studies of Sibley and his co-workers toward the end of the 20th century, however, it became clear that these apparently unrelated birds were all descended from a common ancestor. The Monarchinae are small to medium-sized insectivorous passerines, many of which hunt by flycatching. The AOU split the complex into 3 separate species in 2010. All are endemic to Hawaii.
Larks
Order: Passeriformes Family: Alaudidae
Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.
Swallows and martins
Order: Passeriformes Family: Hirundinidae
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.
Chickadees and titmice
Order: Passeriformes Family: Paridae
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects. 1 species has been introduced, but is no longer established.
Mockingbirds and thrashers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Mimidae
The mimids are a family of passerine birds which includes thrashers, mockingbirds, tremblers and the New World catbirds. These birds are notable for their vocalization, especially their remarkable ability to mimic a wide variety of birds and other sounds heard outdoors. The species tend towards dull grays and browns in their appearance. 1 species has been introduced to Hawaii.
Starlings and mynas
Order: Passeriformes Family: Sturnidae
Starlings are small to medium-sized Old World passerine birds with strong feet. Their flight is strong and direct and most are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. The plumage of several species is dark with a metallic sheen. 3 species have been introduced to Hawaii.
Wagtails and pipits
Order: Passeriformes Family: Motacillidae
Motacillidae is a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. They are slender, ground feeding insectivores of open country.
Thrushes
Order: Passeriformes Family: Turdidae
The thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World. They are plump, soft plumaged, small to medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs. 5 species are endemic to Hawaii and 1 species is accidental.
Bulbuls
Order: Passeriformes Family: Pycnonotidae
Bulbuls are a family of medium-sized passerine songbirds resident in Africa and tropical Asia. These are mostly frugivorous birds. Two species have been introduced to Hawaii.
Cettiid warblers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Cettiidae
Marsh warblers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Acrocephalidae
Old World flycatchers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Muscicapidae
The Old World flycatchers are a large family of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The appearance of these birds is highly varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls. The nest of most is a well-constructed cup in a tree or hedge. 1 species has been introduced to Hawaii.
Laughingthrushes
Order: Passeriformes Family: Leiothrichidae
All of the following species have been introduced to Hawaii.
White-eyes
Order: Passeriformes Family: Zosteropidae
The white-eyes are small passerine birds native to tropical and sub-tropical Africa, southern Asia and Australasia. The birds of this group are mostly of undistinguished appearance, their plumage above being generally some dull color like greenish-olive, but some species have a white or bright yellow throat, breast or lower parts, and several have buff flanks. But as indicated by their scientific name, derived from the Ancient Greek for girdle-eye, there is a conspicuous ring around the eyes of many species. They have rounded wings and strong legs. The size ranges up to 15 cm (6 inches) in length. All the species of white-eyes are sociable, forming large flocks which only separate on the approach of the breeding season. Though mainly insectivorous, they eat nectar and fruits of various kinds. 1 species has been introduced to Hawaii.
Honeyeaters
Order: Passeriformes Family: Mohoidae
Honeyeaters prefer to flit quickly from perch to perch in the outer foliage, stretching up or sideways or hanging upside down at need. They have a highly developed brush-tipped tongue, which is frayed and fringed with bristles which soak up liquids readily. The tongue is flicked rapidly and repeatedly into a flower, the upper mandible then compressing any liquid out when the bill is closed. All species of honeyeaters below were endemic to Hawaii, but are now extinct. The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō was the last species to survive. It was last seen in 1987.
Longspurs and arctic buntings
Order: Passeriformes Family: Calcariidae
Tanagers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Thraupidae
Grassquits and American sparrows
Order: Passeriformes Family: Emberizidae
Emberizidae is a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with distinctively shaped bills. In Europe, most species are called buntings. In North America, most of the species in this family are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the Old World sparrows which are in the family Passeridae.
Cardinals and saltators
Order: Passeriformes Family: Cardinalidae
The cardinals are a family of robust, seed-eating birds with strong bills. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinct plumages. One species has been introduced to Hawaii.
Meadowlarks and grackles
Order: Passeriformes Family: Icteridae
The icterids are a group of small- to medium-sized, often colorful passerine birds. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange or red.
Finches and siskins
Order: Passeriformes Family: Fringillidae
Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
Hawaiian honeycreepers
Order: Passeriformes Family: Drepanididae
Hawaiian honeycreepers are small passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. Most authorities categorize this group as a family Drepanididae, but some biologists still place them as a subfamily, Drepanidinae, of the finch family, Fringillidae. The wide range of bills in this group, from thick finch-like bills to slender downcurved bills for probing flowers have arisen through adaptive radiation, where an ancestral finch has evolved to fill a large number of ecological niches.
Old World sparrows
Order: Passeriformes Family: Passeridae
Old World sparrows are small passerine birds. In general, sparrows tend to be small plump brownish or grayish birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects. 1 species has been introduced to Hawaii.
Estrildid finches
The estrildid finches are small passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They are gregarious and often colonial seed eaters with short, thick, but pointed bills. They are all similar in structure and habits, but vary widely in plumage colors and patterns. All the estrildids build large domed nests. Most are sensitive to cold and require a warm, usually tropical, habitat. All of the following species have been introduced to Hawaii.