Thursday, March 11, 2010

Hawaiian Endemics

We lucked out on the endemic forest birds of Oahu. However, we were a bit more successful in seeing the endemic Hawaiian waterbirds. Of these, only two are endemic species, the Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alai) which as far as we're concerned looks no different from the Coots we see everywhere in California.


And the other is the Hawaiian Duck (Anas wyvilliana) which is not that much different from the Mallard.


The are two endemic subspecies - again with no visible marks that would distinguish them from their mainland counterparts.

The Hawaiian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis)


and the Hawaiian Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni)


But the most intriguing of them all was the Hawaiian Crane (Cranus machinus) which we almost missed. Good thing its name was displayed prominently. :D


Please click on the photos to see a bigger size. Mahalo!

2 comments:

Mel said...

Hello there!
To be endemic they don't seem so different to other common species in other regions, as you said.
I hope that you manage to find some nice new and exotic bird soon :)

Unknown said...

*snickering at the crane* :)
And nope, not much difference in the looks of the endemic species there to the 'normal' ones.
But beautiful shots nonetheless :)