Hawaiian seabirds

While our studies in Hawai’i focus on whales and dolphins, we have been attempting to photograph rare or uncommon species of seabirds since about 2003, and for most field projects we tally all seabird sightings. Over the years we’ve taken over 15,000 photos of seabirds. For many years all of our seabird photos were sent to Peter Pyle of the Institute for Bird Populations for identification, and many have been included in the online Birds of the Hawaiian Islands. Unusual sightings and photographs have been reported in the quarterly reports of North American Birds, and are also contributed to local birding communities through social media. We’ve co-authored two papers with Peter on seabirds in Hawai‘i, one on Dark-rumped Petrels (Pterodroma phaeopygia/sandwichensis) and one on white-rumped dark storm petrels (i.e., Leach’s and Band-rumped Storm Petrels) in Hawaiian waters – copies can be downloaded below. As well as an important opportunity to document the seabird community in Hawai‘i, we also record information on seabirds interactions with various species of whales and dolphins. We’ve worked off Kona every year from 2002 through 2023, and off Kaua‘i in 15 different years between 2003 and 2024, so our ability to assess seabird seasonality and presence around the islands is greatest for those two areas, but we’ve also worked off Maui Nui in nine different years (between 2000 and 2020) and off O‘ahu in six different years (between 2002 and 2023), so have some information on seabirds off those areas. We present below photographs of most species of seabirds we have documented in Hawaiian waters, and at least one we haven’t photographed but hope to soon!

For more information contact Robin W. Baird at rwbaird (at) cascadiaresearch.org or see our Hawai‘i odontocete research page

The species we’ve documented in Hawai’i are listed below (English names followed by Hawaiian names, when available) – click on a name for photos of each species (we are still adding some species) – all photos are taken in Hawaiian waters:

Black-footed Albatross – Ka‘upu	Laysan Albatross – Mōlī	Northern Fulmar
Hawaiian Petrel – ʻUaʻu	White-necked Petrel	Kermadec Petrel
Murphy’s Petrel	Juan Fernandez Petrel	Mottled Petrel
Cook’s Petrel	Black-winged Petrel	Stejneger’s Petrel
Bonin’s Petrel	Bulwer’s Petrel – ʻOu	Tahiti Petrel
Wedge-tailed Shearwater – ʻUaʻu kani	Sooty Shearwater	Buller’s Shearwater
Short-tailed Shearwater	Newell’s Shearwater – ʻAʻo	Christmas Shearwater – ʻaoʻū
Leach’s Storm Petrel	Ainley’s Storm Petrel	Tristram’s Storm Petrel – ʻakihikeʻehiʻale
Band-rumped Storm Petrel – ʻAkēʻakē	Red-footed Booby – ʻĀ	Brown Booby – ʻĀ
Masked Booby – ʻĀ	Nazca Booby	Great Frigatebird – ʻIwa
Red-tailed Tropicbird – Koaʻe ʻula	White-tailed Tropicbird – Koaʻe kea	Red-necked Phalarope
Red Phalarope	Long-tailed Jaeger	Parasitic Jaeger
Pomarine Jaeger	South Polar Skua	Arctic Tern
Gray-backed Tern – Pākalakala	Sooty Tern – ʻEwaʻewa	Bridled Tern
White Tern – Manu o Kū	Least Tern	Brown Noddy – Noio kōhā
Black Noddy – Noio	Blue-gray Noddy – Manuohina	Laughing Gull
Franklin’s Gull	Glaucous-winged Gull

Black-footed Albatross – Ka‘upu (Phoebastria nigripes)

Black-footed Albatross associated with a false killer whale off Lāna‘i. The false killer whale was carrying a large fish, and the albatross were scavenging bits that were left at the surface. We’ve seen Black-footed Albatross off Kaua‘i, Lāna‘i, and Hawai‘i Islands, between the months of December and May, and see them every year when we have regular effort in the winter. The most we’ve ever seen in one day was 201 birds, seen off Kaua‘i on February 16, 2015. The large number seen that day was due to finding two dead whales that the albatross were feeding on – check out our project page for that effort for more photos.

US Mainland

Hawaiʻi

Initiatives

Archives

About Us

Staff

Collaboration

Hawaiian seabirds