The HBRC completed its first report in June 2017, which focused on reviewing reports submitted from 2010 to 2016 of species that were potentially new to the Hawaiian Islands. The report was published in Western Birds. The HBRC thanks the editorial staff at Western Birds for help and advice in completing our first report. Moving forward, the HBRC will continue to review reports of species that would be new to the islands, and also will begin reviewing previous reports of species that have been recorded in the Hawaiian Islands five or fewer times (review species). In the long term, we also will seek to compile more information about non-native bird species in Hawaii that can be used to help evaluate their status and whether they have established breeding populations in the islands.
A revised checklist of birds of the Hawaiian Islands, written by the HBRC, was published recently in the ‘Elepaio, journal and newsletter of the Hawaii Audubon Society. This checklist includes all 338 bird species deemed by the HBRC to have occurred naturally in Hawaii and species introduced by humans that have established viable breeding populations in the wild. It includes endemic species that have become extinct since the arrival of Europeans in 1778 and introduced species that once had established breeding populations but are now extirpated, but it does not include species that are known only from fossil or subfossil remains. Additional species have been reported in Hawaii but are considered to be of hypothetical occurrence because their identification was not certain or their origin or establishment was questionable. A list of these hypothetical species is maintained by Pyle and Pyle (2017) and can be viewed on the websites of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. The Pyle monograph can be accessed here.
HBRC members assisted with overseeing the addition of Hawaiian birds to the American Birding Association's ABA checklist. That task is complete, and the latest version of the ABA checklist that includes Hawaiian birds is now available: ABA Checklist. The merging of the Hawaiian Islands checklist and the ABA checklist resulted in the addition of 105 new species to the revised ABA area < click here for the Birder's Guide article > . The ABA checklist committee has not accepted at least four non-native species that are accepted by the HBRC, resulting in a few discrepancies between the two checklists.
January 2019
The HBRC has made available an official Hawaiian Island Bird Checklist, which is current through 2016, and also a rare bird report form. The checklist indicates which species the HBRC would like to review, and the report form indicates what information should be included in any reports.
