Hawai‘i’s Birds (Hawai‘i Audubon Society)

Hawai‘i’s Birds, published by the Hawai‘i Audubon Society, is a field guide that helps students identify and learn about the remarkable diversity of birds found throughout the Hawaiian Islands. With photographs and concise species accounts, the guide provides information about birds’ appearance, distribution, habitat, behavior, diet, and conservation status, making it useful both in the classroom and during outdoor field investigations.

For middle school students, the guide provides an accessible way to connect observations of local wildlife with larger concepts in ecology, evolution, adaptation, biodiversity, and conservation. Students can use the book to identify birds observed around their school or community, compare native, endemic, and introduced species, investigate how different birds use available habitats and resources, and examine why some Hawaiian bird populations are particularly vulnerable to environmental change.

The guide is especially valuable for exploring Hawai‘i’s endemic species—birds found naturally nowhere else in the world. Species accounts can provide starting points for investigations into habitat loss, invasive species, disease, climate change, and other factors affecting Hawai‘i’s bird populations. Students can combine information from the guide with their own observations and population counts to look for patterns and develop evidence-based explanations about local ecosystems.