After three years of not travelling abroad, we finally took a holiday before Christmas to escape the cold of winter and to enjoy some warmth and sun in Maui, Hawaii.
Most of this gallery will be of birds we came across there, with a few scenics thrown in. It’s always exciting to see species that would never be seen back home.

Millions of years ago, the first birds either flew to Hawaii or were blown off course.
In this isolated island environment, largely free from predators, these colonizers evolved into today’s endemic birds of Hawaii that are found nowhere else on earth.

Along with the native birds, many non-native species were introduced to Hawaii from other places such as Asia, South America, Africa and Europe as pet birds and gaming birds.
A few were even introduced to control insects and pests on the island.

With habitat loss and climate change, birds are impacted by disease carrying mosquitoes, which now breed in areas that were formerly too cool.
As a result many endemic birds are on the endangered list.