Wildlife near Honolulu, HI
Honolulu is unlike anywhere else in the country, an island city where the wildlife is largely its own. Green sea turtles rest on the beaches, spinner dolphins and humpback whales (in winter) move offshore, and the reefs teem with fish found nowhere on the mainland. On land many birds are introduced, from red-crested cardinals to zebra doves, but the native white terns nest right in the downtown shade trees, and seabirds ring the coast.
Everything below is pulled live from recent research-grade observations near Honolulu. Browse by group, explore the map, and identify what you find with Huck.
Naturalists have logged 62,481 research-grade observations across the 30 most-recorded species near Honolulu. The most frequently seen is the Red-crested Cardinal, with 4,942 recorded sightings.
Birds account for the largest share of what gets recorded there (17 of the species listed here), followed by plants (8).
Rarer finds confirmed near Honolulu include Green Sea Turtle - uncommon enough that a sighting is worth logging.
Most-observed species near Honolulu
Built from recent research-grade iNaturalist observations. Identifications are community-sourced and may occasionally be wrong, and the ranking reflects where people record and photograph wildlife, so a species seen often here is not necessarily rare elsewhere. Some plants and animals are only out in certain seasons. Treat this as a lively snapshot of what people are finding, not a formal checklist.
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