This medium-sized gull has a white body with gray wings, black tail, and black wing tips. The distinct feature from which its name is derived, a thick black ring midway around an otherwise yellow bill, is the bird’s best identifying quality. Juveniles have a mottled brown plumage for three years before they reach the plumage ...
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A plump and well-camoflauged shorebird, the Wilson’s snipe has a mottled brown appearance with a whitish underside. With short legs and a thin, straight bill that is more than double the length of its head, it feeds by probing its bill up and down in wet soil, in a sewing machine-like manner. While wintering in ...
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This migratory bird holds the record for the longest known continuous flight of any bird, traveling between Alaska and New Zealand without any stops. The bar-tailed godwit can be found feeding in coastal mudflats and estuaries. It sports a distinct long, upturned bill which is pink at the base, gradually fading to black.
A less common winter visitor to Hawaii, the spotted sandpiper has short yellow longs, an orange bill with a dark tip, and a body that is brown on top and white beneath. During breeding season, both males and females will gain black spots across their white undersides. The spotted sandpiper can be recognized by its ...
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An occasional winter visitor, the Eurasian wigeon is a noisy dabbling duck. The males’ distinct breeding plumage includes a chestnut head with a cream colored crown, gray flanks and back, black rear, pinkish breast, white belly, and a bright white upper wing patch. Outside of breeding season, the males appear much more similar to the ...
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The brant is a small, short-legged and stubby-billed goose, inclusive of three subspecies which each possess slight variations in color. In general, all three subspecies have a blackish head, neck, and tail, with lighter gray or brown wings, back, and underside, and distinct white markings, including a large white patch on its rear and small ...
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This infrequent visitor from North America sports a distinct color pattern from which its name is derived. Males appear with a deep chestnut-red head and neck, black chest and rump, a canvas-white wings, back, and belly, and bright red eyes. Females have a light brown head and neck, darker brown chest, gray-brown back and wings, ...
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A dabbling duck, gadwalls typically feed by tipping forward to reach underwater for plants. However, they are also known to steal food from coots or other diving birds. This medium-sized gray duck is an infrequent winter visitor in Hawaii. Males are predominately gray with a black rump and a small white wing patch in flight. ...
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This visiting ibis has a glossy dark body with reddish neck, head, and chest. Its bill is long and curved with a white transition between bill and face stretching around the eye from which it gets its name. Their native range is typically North and South America.
An all-white goose with an orange-pink bill and legs, and black wing tips especially visible in flight. A visitor to Hawai’i from North America in winter months.
Sharp-tailed sandpipers are visually very similar to the pectoral sandpiper but can be distinguished by having more red on the head cap and less defined transition of strips between the chest and belly.
The pectoral sandpiper is a visiting species from the Americas to the Hawaiian Islands, usually arriving in fall and sometimes overwintering. It’s sturdy build, yellowish legs, and thin contrasted streaks of chest feathers ending sharply at the belly can distinguish it from the least sandpiper.
This small visiting duck from North and Central America is found in ponds and marshes feeding on surface plants. As their name suggests, blue-winged teals have blue wing feathers visible when in flight. Males have a white facial crescent, faintly visible on females, and dark colored bodies. Both sexes have black bills.
Female ring-necked ducks have dark bodies with a white ring around their eyes, while males are black and white with a faint ring around their lower neck. Ring-neck ducks are diving ducks that prefer smaller bodies of water. They are visitors to Hawaiʻi from North America
Minutilla, meaning “very small” is an appropriate Latin name for the least sandpiper. This winter visitor may be difficult to distinguish from other small shorebirds, but is generally smaller, with short yellow legs and a black beak that is slightly curved downward at the tip.