A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hawaii: The Main Islands and Offshore Waters (Latitude 20 Books

by Jim Denny

Winner of the 2011 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award of Excellence in Natural Science , Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association

Hawai‘i is home to some of the most beautiful and sought after birds in the world. From the offshore waters, where graceful seabirds glide on the cool, refreshing trade winds, to the lush ancient forests of the mountains, where colorful endemic honeycreepers reside, Hawai‘i’s birds are wonderfully diverse. Introduced species and long-distance migrants contribute to the splendid assortment. Some island bird species are extremely abundant and instantly familiar since we encounter them daily in our outdoor activities. Others are so rare they are glimpsed only once in a lifetime. In these magnificent islands there is something for birders of every sort.

Superbly illustrated in color by the author and Jack Jeffrey, two of Hawai‘i’s best nature photographers, this guide includes nearly every species of bird on land and at sea in the main Hawaiian Islands. In total, 170 species or subspecies are described and illustrated. This comprehensive work is an essential resource for those who are interested in identifying, locating, and learning more about the avifauna of Hawai‘i.

Genres: Birds

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

Reviews

[Spike Gomes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best, not the worst book on the aviafauna of Hawaii. It doesn't go much in depth, giving about a single page per species on average, with a decent sized photo. It would be useful to birders who are already familiar with the islands and birding here, looking for something that's fairly up to date with enough data to serve as a tick book. Pratt's guide to Hawaiian birdlife would probably be more useful to someone not really familiar with Hawaii in general, and there are many more books that go into ornithological depth on the subject. It somewhat worth it as a supplementary guide to Hawaii Audubon handbook, as there are more and larger photos, particularly of incidental wetland and shorebirds that are usually left out of other books of this sort.

3.5 out 5 stars.

[Garrett Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice easy reading guide with good photos of each bird. It is very light on technical data, each profile is a paragraph style description of the bird consisting of a short history of its origins, habits, and places it can be found along with a quality photo. Since it was easy to read I was able to get through the whole book quickly and have an idea of which birds I would be seeing when I got to Kauai and was instantly able to start picking out birds, rarely having to refer to the book again. The rental home we are staying in has two of the other Hawaii bird books I was looking at purchasing as well but didn’t, so I am going to read those this week and compare and contrast with this guide and see how it stacks up.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice, basic guide to the various species of native and non-native birds populating the Hawaiian islands. When I can't reach for my cellphone, this will be my guide when I continue to go birding here in the archipelago.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the pictures and the captions were decent. My main complaints is that there is only one picture per bird (except for the black-bellied plover) and the guide liked to refer to north american guide books so that it wouldn't have to go into more detail. I'd still get it if you want a decent guide for amateur bird watching for a decent price.