Birds of Hawaii

Honesty first: Warble's catalog is built around the birds of the mainland United States, so most of Hawaii's native forest birds are not in it, and the 100 birds it lists for the islands lean heavily on introduced and widespread species, which is also what most people hear. The state list stands at 337 species, and 52 of them were brought by humans; the birds in a Honolulu or Kailua yard are mynas, doves, white-eyes, finches and cardinals from Asia, South America and the mainland.

The natives are a harder and sadder story. Hawaii once had at least 113 bird species found nowhere else. Only 26 forest species remain, 24 of them listed as vulnerable or endangered, and 71 have been confirmed lost. Mosquitoes carrying avian malaria and pox are the main reason, which is why the surviving honeycreepers live mostly above about 1,400 meters, where it is too cool for the mosquitoes. To hear them, you go up.

The Hawaii album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Hawaii, ranked by how frequently they turn up. The common and uncommon ones are shown; the rare and legendary cards stay face down until you catch them in the game.

Backyard birds you will hear first

The Common Myna leads the album: a brown, yellow-faced bird that struts across every lawn and parking lot, squabbling in loud, liquid chatter and gathering in screaming roosts at dusk. The Zebra Dove is second, a tiny dove with a soft, fast, stuttering coo from the wires, and the Spotted Dove adds a deeper three-note call. The Warbling White-eye, a small green bird with a white eye ring, sings a thin, high warble from the hedges.

The House Sparrow chirps under the eaves, the House Finch sings its long, jumbled warble, and the Northern Cardinal whistles cheer, cheer from a mango tree, next to a Red-crested Cardinal from South America with a gray body and a scarlet head. The Pacific Golden-Plover, the one native in the top ten, spends the winter on lawns and golf courses and flies to Alaska to nest.

The islands, by ear

The high forest

Ohia and koa forest above the mosquito line. The Apapane, a crimson honeycreeper, sings a busy mix of squeaks, whistles and trills from the ohia blossoms, and the Hawaii Amakihi, small and yellow-green, gives a fast trill. These two are the only forest birds the state still lists as of least concern. Hakalau Forest refuge, more than 32,700 acres of rainforest on the windward slope of Mauna Kea, also shelters the scarlet Iiwi, the Akiapolaau with its curved bill and the Hawaii Akepa.

The volcanoes

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has four honeycreeper species in its rainforest, the Nene on the lava, the Io, Hawaii's only native hawk, and the Uau, a petrel down to about 50 to 60 breeding pairs. Mauna Loa Road and Crater Rim Drive are the usual places to listen.

The coast and the sea cliffs

Kilauea Point, on the north tip of Kauai, is a 180-foot bluff with one of the largest seabird colonies in the islands: Laysan Albatrosses arrive in early November, Red-footed Boobies nest in one of the world's biggest colonies, and White-tailed Tropicbirds sail past. The Nene grazes the lawns there.

Best months to listen

The introduced backyard birds sing all year, and there is no real off season in the lowlands. In the high forest, the honeycreepers are most vocal when the ohia is in bloom, and mornings are far better than afternoons, when cloud rolls up the slopes. Winter is the season for seabirds at Kilauea Point and for Pacific Golden-Plovers on the lawns. Whenever you go up the mountain, go early and bring a layer.

Places worth the drive

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Big Island: Nene on the lava, Apapane and other honeycreepers in the rainforest, an Io overhead.
• Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Mauna Kea: Iiwi, Akiapolaau and Akepa, by guided tour only for now.
• Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, Kauai: albatrosses from November, boobies, tropicbirds and Nene on the point.

The town birds fill most of the Warble album from a hotel lanai. The natives are the reason to rent the car.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Hawaii birds, so the first songs you hear outside already ring a bell.

Mallard song

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Recording by Fionn Ó Marcaigh, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist.

Wild Turkey song

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Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Ring-necked Pheasant song

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Recording by dugald, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

Album data: public bird observations aggregated through GBIF, ranked by report frequency in Hawaii. Updated September 30, 2026.