About Hawaii Birding Trails

Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail & Festival of Birds

Our Mission

Hawaii Birding Trails is dedicated to promoting awareness of Hawaii's extraordinary avian heritage and supporting the conservation of the Big Island's remarkable bird species. Through the Hawaii Island Festival of Birds and the Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail (HICCBT), we work to connect visitors, residents, and conservation organizations in a shared commitment to protecting the species and habitats that make Hawaii's birdlife among the most unique on Earth.

Hawaii is home to an extraordinary concentration of endemic bird species — birds that evolved in isolation on these remote Pacific islands over millions of years and exist nowhere else on the planet. It is also, tragically, a global hotspot for bird extinctions. More bird species have gone extinct in Hawaii than anywhere else in the United States. Our mission is to reverse that trend through education, tourism, habitat protection, and community engagement.

The Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail

The Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail (HICCBT) is a visionary project that links some of the Big Island's most important natural and cultural landmarks into a single, cohesive birding route. The trail crosses the island from the Kohala Coast to the Hilo Bay watershed, passing through a stunning diversity of landscapes and habitats.

Along the trail, birders encounter the full spectrum of Hawaii Island's ecosystems. The arid leeward coast receives as little as 10 inches of rain per year, supporting dry forest and scrub communities where you can find the Hawaiian Hawk ('Io), introduced parrots, and shorebirds along the shoreline. Moving inland and upward, the trail enters upland pasture and dry forest — prime habitat for the endangered Palila, one of Hawaii's most critically imperiled songbirds.

As the trail climbs toward Mauna Kea and traverses the saddle between the two great volcanoes, the vegetation shifts dramatically. The montane rainforests of the windward slope — drenched by hundreds of inches of annual rainfall — host the densest concentrations of native Hawaiian forest birds remaining on the island. Here, the brilliant scarlet Apapane and the brilliant red and black Iiwi flash through the native ohia trees, feeding on nectar with their specialized curved bills.

The trail descends to the Hilo side through increasingly lush rainforest, passing wetland sanctuaries at the coast where endangered Hawaiian stilts, coots, ducks, and moorhens nest and feed throughout the year. The HICCBT encompasses this entire magnificent transect — a birding route unlike any other in the United States.

The HICCBT links a National Park, two State Parks, several Forest Reserves, two County Parks, a National Wildlife Refuge, public trails, and local businesses into a unified birding destination — the first of its kind in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Island Festival of Birds

The Hawaii Island Festival of Birds is a two-day annual event that celebrates the HICCBT and Hawaii's avian heritage. The festival brings together birders, photographers, scientists, cultural practitioners, and nature enthusiasts from across the state, the mainland, and around the world for an immersive weekend on the Big Island.

Festival programming spans the full range of experience levels and interests. Saturday's general admission program features presentations from leading ornithologists, conservation biologists, wildlife photographers, and Hawaiian cultural practitioners who speak to the biological and cultural significance of Hawaii's birds. The Activity Zone offers hands-on experiences for families, including bird identification workshops, face painting, a Build A Bird contest, and a Birding Basics station.

Sunday's guided tours take participants into prime birding habitats across the island, with options including boat tours offshore, van tours to upland forest reserves, and photography tours led by professional wildlife photographers. These small-group tours visit restricted-access areas not available to the general public, giving participants exclusive access to some of the best birding on the island.

The Saturday Gala Dinner brings the weekend to a memorable close, featuring live Hawaiian music and hula performance, a no-host bar, a live auction of unique items including exclusive guided birding experiences, original wildlife art, and special travel packages. The evening's keynote speaker and program celebrate the cultural and biological richness of Hawaii's birds.

Conservation and Education

Beyond the festival itself, Hawaii Birding Trails is committed to year-round conservation and education initiatives. We partner with organizations including the American Bird Conservancy, the National Park Service, the Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife, and local community groups on projects that directly protect bird habitats and reduce threats from introduced predators and diseases.

Avian malaria, spread by introduced mosquitoes, has been the single greatest driver of forest bird extinctions in Hawaii since the late 1800s. Modern research is exploring innovative solutions including the use of incompatible insect technique (IIT) and biocontrol methods to reduce mosquito populations in critical upland forest bird habitats. The Hawaii Island Festival of Birds supports and promotes awareness of these cutting-edge conservation efforts.

We also partner with eBird and other community science platforms to engage birders in systematic data collection that tracks bird population trends, identifies emerging threats, and guides conservation resource allocation. Every checklist submitted by a birder visiting Hawaii Island contributes to the scientific foundation for evidence-based conservation decisions.

How to Get Involved

There are many ways to support Hawaii Birding Trails and the conservation of Hawaii's birds. Attending the Hawaii Island Festival of Birds is the most direct way to connect with the community and contribute to a program that funds real conservation work on the ground.

You can also support Hawaii's birds through community science — submitting your bird observations to eBird when you visit the island, volunteering with local habitat restoration efforts, and spreading the word about Hawaii's avian conservation crisis to your networks. If you are a business in the birding or ecotourism space, consider partnering with the festival as a sponsor.

For more information about upcoming festival dates, guided tour options, and how to purchase tickets, visit our Festival Tickets page or explore the Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail page for trail guides and birding tips.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Hawaii Island Festival of Birds is organized by a coalition of conservation organizations, tourism partners, and birding enthusiasts based on Hawaii's Big Island. The event grew out of the effort to establish and promote the Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail.

Partners include representatives from the National Park Service, American Bird Conservancy, local nature centers, and the broader Hawaii birding community. The festival is designed to be a collaborative, community-driven celebration of Hawaii's extraordinary birds and habitats.

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has been a leading force in Hawaiian bird conservation, working with local partners on predator control programs, habitat restoration, and advocacy for policies that protect endemic species. ABC's Hawaiian bird conservation program funds on-the-ground projects that directly reduce threats from introduced predators and invasive species.

At the Hawaii Island Festival of Birds, ABC representatives present on the status of Hawaiian bird populations and the concrete conservation actions being taken to prevent further extinctions. Their work represents some of the most important bird conservation efforts in the United States.

Birding tourism generates direct economic benefits for communities near critical bird habitats, creating financial incentives to protect those habitats rather than convert them to other uses. When local businesses, guides, and communities benefit financially from healthy bird populations and intact forests, conservation becomes an economic as well as an environmental priority.

The Hawaii Island Birding Trail and Festival are designed specifically to channel birding tourism to areas where the economic benefit can most directly support conservation. A portion of festival proceeds supports habitat restoration and conservation research on the Big Island.

Absolutely. The Hawaii Island Festival of Birds is designed to welcome birders of all experience levels. The general admission program includes introductory sessions on Hawaiian birds, basic birdwatching skills workshops, and family-friendly activities in the Activity Zone.

More experienced birders can join specialized guided tours by boat and van to prime birding locations, participate in photography workshops with professional wildlife photographers, and attend in-depth presentations from ornithologists and conservation biologists. There is something meaningful and accessible for everyone at the festival.

eBird, managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a global community science platform where birders submit their bird observations in real time. The data contributed by thousands of Hawaii birders each year provides invaluable information about bird distribution, abundance, and seasonal movements that researchers use to identify conservation priorities.

Birding on Hawaii Island using eBird not only enhances your own experience by helping you find hotspots and track your life list — it directly contributes to the scientific knowledge base that informs conservation decisions. The Hawaii Island Birding Festival actively encourages participants to use eBird during all guided tours and independent outings.

Yes, the Hawaii Birding Trails website offers guides to the Hawaii Island Coast to Coast Birding Trail, profiles of key species to look for, and information on festival events and ticket options. The eBird hotspot maps for Hawaii Island are an essential planning tool for both independent birders and organized tour groups.

We also recommend connecting with local birding guides and nature tour operators who specialize in Hawaiian endemic species. They bring local knowledge that is impossible to replicate from guidebooks alone, and their support directly contributes to the local economy that sustains birding habitats across the island.