Birds Of BYUH

Paula and I are fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved with the campus at Laie in several ways. This has been a really fun and rewarding experience. We particularly love the students, and have had the chance to teach a number of classes. But, no matter why we are there, I love seeing the birds. This campus has an unusual number of birds and a good number of species. They can be seen very easily, and are pretty tame. Here are the most common.

Common Myna


Seen everywhere, these are a noisy, gregarious and very aware bird. They can be taught to talk, and are considered very intelligent. They have a beautiful black and white pattern in flight. Most of the time they are observed hopping on both legs.



The Doves!

Students often overlook the fact that there are two common dove species easily seen on campus. The larger of the two is the Spotted Dove. It's about the size of the Mourning Dove common to North America, and has a very distinctive group of spots on its neck. It's soft coo is heard almost anytime of the day, but particularly in the morning.


The smaller species is the Zebra Dove. It is very tame and often waits until the very last moment to move out of the way of a pedestrian or a car.



The male has a very interesting display when trying to attract a mate where it puts up its tail and makes a waah waah sound.


Often overlooked, but very numerous are the two species of Bulbul. These immigrants from south Asia (India most likely) are not flashy, but very easily identified once seen. Both have a dark brown to black crest similar to an and are about the same size as the smaller dove except thinner.

Red Vented Bulbul. Note the distinctive patch of red.


Red Whiskered Bulbul. Self explanatory!


The resident "chickens" are actually Jungle Fowl. While they come in a variety of colors, these are the most common.


And now for this post's mystery critter. Seen frequently on the campus of BYUH, this is another immigrant to Hawaii who has done very well. What is it?



Our next bird is probably the one most often mis-identified by people throughout the world. It lives everywhere and is very adaptable. It is the House Sparrow, which is actually a finch that originated in Europe. Though it is often confused with a number of other birds it's size, and considered "plain", it is actually very beautiful.


Another striking and very common bird at BYUH is the Red Crested Cardinal. A close cousin to the Northern Cardinal, this immigrant is another tame and gregarious resident on campus.


Another very colorful but often overlooked bird is the Java Sparrow. Actually it is also a finch, orginally from South Asia, and tends to be very prolific. Because it is only about 5 inches long, it tends to be hiding in the grass often with other small seed eaters.


There are two other birds common to the campus which are both easily seen and easily overlooked. They are only about 4 inches long, and unless they are in a large flock (which frequently happens) can be hard to notice.

The Common Waxbill is a beautiful little bird with a red beak extending in red back along the cheek, and a distinctive zebra dove like striping.


The other is the Chestnut Mannakin. Mannakins are typically large billed tiny birds which again are seed eaters.


A very odd bird is the Ruddy Turnstone. Similar to a sandpiper, plover or other shorebird, this fairly large bird is often seen in flocks on the grassy area's around campus. It is fairly wary, and generally won't let people get too close.


Often the flock has one or more of the ubiquitous Cattle Egret with it.


The Cattle Egret standing about 2 feet tall or so is certainly one of the most popular and noticeable birds on campus. They spend most of the day hunting for bugs in the grass.






Finally, although this bird is only on campus from fall until spring, it is there when most students are around. It is the Pacific Golden Plover. This is an incredible bird that breeds in the islands, but spends the summer in Alaska. Flying sometimes many hours to days at a time, this is one of the most amazing migration stories in nature.



Birds are very territorial. As such, the individuals seen on campus at BYUH are often long term residents. This includes those that migrate, many of whom return to breed in the same area year after year. One of the really cool things about BYUH is that students can conduct research right on campus. An example is this bird. Several of them like the individual below have been banded with a GPS leg tracker. Phil Bruner, the well known bird expert and a professor on campus was telling me last week about one of the plovers that they had tracked which after leaving campus flew north until about 4 hours beyond Kauai when it apparently got disoriented and flew in circles for 12 hours. Finally it headed off to Japan, and eventually found it's way back to Alaska. These little birds are inspirational!


This was a fun project. Took me a couple of days to get the pictures, but got them all on campus. All of the photos were taken with the Nikon D3 and the Sigma 300 - 800.


I am a lucky guy!