Category: Birdwatching

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Hawai’i is facing a bird extinction crisis. Once home to more than 55 species of native honeycreepers, only 17 species remain today. Several of those are now on the brink of extinction, with habitat loss and avian malaria among their greatest threats. Without bold action, many of the remaining species could vanish within the next decade.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and partners are working to ensure a future where Hawaiian forest birds and their habitats can not just survive, but thrive. Using cutting-edge science and working in community, we’re restoring

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

The big, black Double-crested Cormorant is a common waterbird of lakes and shorelines throughout North America. Although it is an expert fisher, its feathers lack the waterproofing common to most other waterbirds, such as the Mallard or Common Loon. Unlike these waterbirds, Double-crested Cormorants don’t have well-developed uropygial glands, which produce the waterproofing oil that birds spread over their feathers as they preen. Consequently, the Double-crested Cormorant has to spend a lot of time drying out, and it can often be sighted atop a piling, jetty, or dock with its

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

The Nēnē is one of at least five species of geese that evolved on Hawaiʻi, including the Nēnē Nui (wood-walking goose) and the flightless Giant Hawaiʻi Goose. Today, the Nēnē is the only survivor, and one of the rarest goose species in the world. Based on fossil DNA, these Hawaiian geese are closely related to the Canada Goose, which was thought to have migrated to the islands over 500,000 years ago.

Another interesting group of waterfowl, the moa-nalos (lost fowl), once inhabited most of the Hawaiian Islands, but were quickly