Thanks to the readers who answered my appeal for photos, I now have at least a week’s worth. But please keep them coming in!
Today is Sunday, ergo we have a batch of photos by biologist John Avise; this is the second part of a four-part series on the birds of Hawaii (part 1 is here). John’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Birds in Hawaii, Part 2
Today we continue our photographic montage of native and introduced birds that might be seen on a natural-history tour of the Hawaiian Islands.
O’ahu ‘Elepaio (Chasiempis ibidis) in the hand of a bird-bander (this species is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands):
Erckels spurfowl (Pternistis erckelii) (native to Africa):
Great Frigatebird female (Fregata minor) (native to Hawaii and many other locales in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans):
Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alai) (endemic to the Hawaiian Islands), dark morph:
Hawaiian Coot, light morph (the color morph refers to the color of the frontal shield):
Hawaiian Duck (Anas wyvilliana) (a non-migratory endemic to the large island of Hawaii):
Hawaiian Goose, or Nene (Branta sandvicensis) (an endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, and the official state bird):
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)(native to North America), male:
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), male (native to Europe and Asia but introduced to many other parts of the world):
Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus) (native to East Asia):
Java Sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) (native to Indonesia):
Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) (native to the Hawaiian islands):
Laysan Albatross flying:
Laysan Albatross chick:
JAC: Note that the Laysan albatross, in the form of one female bird named Wisdom, is the oldest confirmed living wild bird in the world. She was first tagged in 1950s and is still alive, now about 72 or 73 years old. She has gone through a couple of mates and produced at least 30-36 chick, including at least one grandchick. I love her.
Ah, this is wonderful –
I didn’t know there was a Hawaiian Coot, and I’m astonished if the tiny red finch migrates from Hawaii to North America! I wonder how it manages…
I seriously doubt that there is any such natural finch migration. Rather, the species was likely introduced to the islands by humans.
Ah!
Check out the legs on that coot, seriously! The Hawaiian Goose is the sweetest looking goose I’ve ever seen. I’m curious if they are less aggressive than the monster geese we’ve got on the continent? I’m also wondering about the Java Sparrow — how/why it came to be called a “sparrow”?
I visited the old Kortright Waterfowl Sanctuary in an ornithology course field trip back in the mid-70s. There was a small flock of Nenes there, wandering loose, and as soon as they saw us new people, they came running over to us. No hissing, no threats, they were just curious. Very gentle birds without much fear of humans, which is why they were almost wiped out.
Ah, just as sweet as they look. Poor guys. Thanks for the info!
Beautiful!
Now I want to go to Hawaii for a bird’s eye view! Thank you for these photos. Lovely!
Good birds. Great to see the familiar House Sparrow enjoying Hawaii.
Amazing! My favorite is that charming little native Oahu ‘Elepaio. It’s also nice to see a Nene somewhere other than the NYT Crossword Puzzle 😀