Hawaiian Forest Birds

I am in Hawaii this week for The Wildlife Society's Annual Conference! The first thing I did after getting here is to go on a field trip to the Hakalau Wildlife Refuge. The trip was led by the Hawaii Forest & Trail. It was an wonderful trip and we got to see almost all of the native forest birds. The one bird we did not get to see is the Palila. 

We saw the Pueo, a short-eared owl endemic to Hawaii, on the way to Hakalau. The picture above on the right is the Wildlife Refuge. (Click on pics to enlarge).

    

The Nene, is an endemic Hawaiian goose, which is also the state bird of Hawaii. There were quite a few pairs hanging out by where we parked and were quite photogenic :) The I'iwi, Scarlet Hawaiian honeycreeper, is the bird that I took the most pictures of and got some really good ones too! This is one of the adaptive radiated Hawaiian honeycreepers!

There were also quite a few Japanese White-eye, an introduced species. We also saw the I'o, the Hawaiian hawk, which is also endemic. The day was quite the treat for attending a conference!

Here are other species we saw that day and since then (pics coming later!): Native Birds: 'Elepaio (flycatcher), 'Oma'o (thrush), Hawai'i Amakihi, 'Akiapola'au, Hawai'i Creeper, 'Akepa and 'Apapane. Introduced Birds:  Erckel's Francolin, Kalij Pheasant, Ring-Neck Pheasant, Wild Turkey, California Quail, Mourning Dove, Spotted Dove, Common Myna, Skylark, House Sparrow, Yelloe-fronted Canary, House Finch, Java Sparrow. Visitors / Migrants: Pacific-Golden Plover, Wandering Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone.