The Hawai‘i Wildlife Center Lends a Helping Wing to Native Birds and Bats

Red-footed boobies. Photo: Courtesy of the Hawai‘i Wildlife Center

You might have seen the Native Bird and Bat Rehabilitation and Hospital Care van on O‘ahu’s roadways. It belongs to the Hawai‘i Wildlife Center, a North Kohala-based nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates winged species across the state.

Since 2023, its first O‘ahu satellite has been giving short-term care to native birds and bats on this island. That’s a lot to tweet about: Last year’s 1,016 winged patients were a record for the center. Most were ‘ua‘u kani or wedge-tailed shearwater fledglings blinded by artificial lights as they made their first flights toward the night sea. A good number are manu-o-Kū chicks that fall out of trees in urban and suburban Honolulu. Once in a while, there’s a tiny ‘ōpe‘ape‘a—a thumb-size Hawaiian hoary bat, the state’s only native land mammal.

SEE ALSO: Hawai‘i’s Endangered and Threatened Species

“There’s such great wildlife to be seen on O‘ahu. People don’t realize,” says Linda Elliott, who opened the center in 2012. Back then, she expected a couple of hundred patients a year. “They think everything’s gone from O‘ahu and it’s a lost cause, and that’s absolutely not true.”

For native bird rescue tips or ways to volunteer, contact the Hawai‘i Wildlife Center at (808) 884-5000 or birdhelp@hawaiiwildlifecenter.org.

hawaiiwildlifecenter.org, @hawaiiwildlifecenter