Big Island Birding Blitz

Experience the best of Hawaiʻi and its beautiful birds with local experts on our favorite island!

The Big Island is where most of our endemic birds are still found, with seven species of honeycreepers (five endemic to the island itself), our state bird, the Nēnē, its own species of endemic thrush, its own monarch flycatcher, and the only island with the Hawaiian Hawk, in addition to offering most of Hawaiʻi’s calmest ocean conditions.

We invite you to join us on the best birding experience the Big Island has to offer, featuring access to Hakalau Forest NWR, remote transects of subalpine forest in search of the critically endangered Palila, and our unrivaled pelagic birding adventures as Hawaiʻi’s only exclusive bird tour operator.

DAY 1 

Kona Pelagic Birding Adventure 1 of 3

Mandy has been pioneering pelagic birding in Hawaii for over the past 10 years and is honored to team up with a local captain and crew when they seasonally encounter sought-after pelagic migrants and critically endangered endemic seabirds.

Our resident species include Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Masked Booby, Brown Noddy, Black Noddy (melanogenys subspecies), Sooty Tern, Blue-billed White Tern, Great Frigatebird, and White-tailed Tropicbird. Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross, and Red-tailed Tropicbirds are possible, but they breed on other Hawaiian islands and usually travel north to feed. Our endangered endemic Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel are always possible, becoming more likely in Spring and Fall when our pelagic migrants are on the move. Migrants and nearby sought-after breeders include Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel, Black-winged Petrel, Mottled Petrel, Cook’s Petrel, Juan Fernandez Petrel, White-necked Petrel, Kermadec Petrel, Christmas Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, South Polar Skua, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Arctic Tern, with hopes of more rarities like Streaked Shearwater, Gray-backed Tern, and Blue-gray Noddy. We are also very excited about our potential dolphin and whale encounters which have previously included Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin, Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Rough-toothed Dolphin, Fraser’s Dolphin, Short-finned Pilot Whale, Melon-headed Whale, Pygmy Killer Whale, False Killer Whale, Blainville Beaked Whale, Cuvier’s Beaked Whale, Sperm Whale, and North Pacific Humpback Whale. Again, we are trail blazing pelagic birding in Hawaiʻi and continually learning more about these spectacular seabirds and cetaceans.

DAY 2

Birding Big Island’s Leeward Side

We begin our day on a quest for Hawaiʻi ʻElepaio and Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihi, with hopes of finding Hawaiian Hawk and one of the last critically endangered Palila. (Palila returned to an accessible area ~7,000′ above sea level for the first time in over 4 years in Spring 2026; (after over 4 years of unsuccessful searches) their population plummeted from over 1,000 individuals to less than 350 individuals). On our way to the sub-alpine dry forests of māmane, ‘iliahi, and naio at elevations of 7,000’ -9,000’ above sea level, we will bird Saddle Road for Short-eared Owl (endemic subspecies), Eurasian Skylark, Chukar, California Quail, Wild Turkey, Ring-necked Pheasant, Erckel’s, Spurfowl, Black and Gray francolins, Japanese Bush Warbler, Nēnē (Hawaiian Goose) and more. From the high elevations of Pu`u La`au along the slopes of Mauna Kea, we will drive through Waikoloa for a quick lunch stop and search of more introduced species, like Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Red Avadavat, Warbling White-eye, Yellow-billed Cardinal, Yellow-fronted Canary, African Silverbill, and more.

DAY 3

Kona Pelagic Birding Adventure 2 of 3

Mandy has been pioneering pelagic birding in Hawaii for over the past 10 years and is honored to team up with a local captain and crew when they seasonally encounter sought-after pelagic migrants and critically endangered endemic seabirds.

Our resident species include Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Masked Booby, Brown Noddy, Black Noddy (melanogenys subspecies), Sooty Tern, Blue-billed White Tern, Great Frigatebird, and White-tailed Tropicbird. Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross, and Red-tailed Tropicbirds are possible, but they breed on other Hawaiian islands and usually travel north to feed. Our endangered endemic Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel are always possible, becoming more likely in Spring and Fall when our pelagic migrants are on the move. Migrants and nearby sought-after breeders include Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel, Black-winged Petrel, Mottled Petrel, Cook’s Petrel, Juan Fernandez Petrel, White-necked Petrel, Kermadec Petrel, Christmas Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, South Polar Skua, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Arctic Tern, with hopes of more rarities like Streaked Shearwater, Gray-backed Tern, and Blue-gray Noddy. We are also very excited about our potential dolphin and whale encounters which have previously included Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin, Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Rough-toothed Dolphin, Fraser’s Dolphin, Short-finned Pilot Whale, Melon-headed Whale, Pygmy Killer Whale, False Killer Whale, Blainville Beaked Whale, Cuvier’s Beaked Whale, Sperm Whale, and North Pacific Humpback Whale. Again, we are trail blazing pelagic birding in Hawaiʻi and continually learning more about these spectacular seabirds and cetaceans.

DAY 4

Birding Hakalau Forest NWR

Experience Hakalau aka Hawaiʻi’s honeycreeper heaven! Hakalau Forest NWR is a publicly restricted montane cloud forest refuge and is home to many of Hawaiʻi’s endangered plants, native arthropods, and endemic birds. We will search for the unique Hawaiʻi ‘Alawī (creeper), the gorgeous day glow orange Hawaiʻi ʻAkepa, the stunning long billed ʻAkiapōlāʻau, the ʻIo (Hawaiian Hawk), Hawaiʻi ʻElepaio, and ʻŌmaʻo (HawaiʻiIsland’s endemic thrush) with beautiful I’iwi, Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihi, and ʻApapane all over the blossoms of ancient ‘Ohi’a trees enshrouding us. We will obviously be birding our way all the way in and out of the refuge for any target species we haven’t already tracked down on land, but today we easily be one of the highlights of the week, despite off-roading for an hour in and out of the refuge.

DAY 5

Kona Pelagic Birding Adventure 3 of 3

Mandy has been pioneering pelagic birding in Hawaii for over the past 10 years and is honored to team up with a local captain and crew when they seasonally encounter sought-after pelagic migrants and critically endangered endemic seabirds.

Our resident species include Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Masked Booby, Brown Noddy, Black Noddy (melanogenys subspecies), Sooty Tern, Blue-billed White Tern, Great Frigatebird, and White-tailed Tropicbird. Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross, and Red-tailed Tropicbirds are possible, but they breed on other Hawaiian islands and usually travel north to feed. Our endangered endemic Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel are always possible, becoming more likely in Spring and Fall when our pelagic migrants are on the move. Migrants and nearby sought-after breeders include Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel, Black-winged Petrel, Mottled Petrel, Cook’s Petrel, Juan Fernandez Petrel, White-necked Petrel, Kermadec Petrel, Christmas Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, South Polar Skua, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Arctic Tern, with hopes of more rarities like Streaked Shearwater, Gray-backed Tern, and Blue-gray Noddy. We are also very excited about our potential dolphin and whale encounters which have previously included Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin, Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Rough-toothed Dolphin, Fraser’s Dolphin, Short-finned Pilot Whale, Melon-headed Whale, Pygmy Killer Whale, False Killer Whale, Blainville Beaked Whale, Cuvier’s Beaked Whale, Sperm Whale, and North Pacific Humpback Whale. Again, we are trail blazing pelagic birding in Hawaiʻi and continually learning more about these spectacular seabirds and cetaceans.