WatchList Species Account for Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alai)

Qualifies for the list as a Red List Species

Photo: Bill Hubick

Long regarded as a subspecies of the American Coot, the Hawaiian Coot is endemic to the islands, breeding on Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Maui, and Hawai’i. It breeds at only a relatively few sites, mostly on natural freshwater ponds, flooded taro fields, reservoirs, sewage-treatment ponds, and brackish fish ponds. The Hawaiian Coot is often found near beaches, golf courses, and other areas frequented by people; hence it is a familiar sight. It declined steeply during the 20th Century and now numbers between 2,000 to 4,000 individuals, with about 80% of these on Kauai, Maui, and Oahu. It is nomadic and wanders between the islands in search of suitable water bodies.

Peak coot numbers follow years of high rainfall. Threats include alien plants invading water bodies and making them unuseable by the bird, introduced predators including cats, dogs, and mongoose, and native predators such as Black-crowned Night-Herons, poisoning by pesticides and herbicides used in agriculture and on golf courses, and avian botulism, which has caused heavy mortality, especially on Hawaii. The bird was formerly hunted but hunting was prohibited in 1939 and the species has been fully protected since 1973. The bird builds its nest on the water’s surface anchored to floating algal mats or stems of emergent plants.

Like the American Coot, it feeds by both dabbling and diving and probably takes similar foods. Reportedly it eats seeds and leaves and stems of aquatic plants and lagoon mollusks. Since it was so long considered merely a subspecies of the American Coot, it has been the subject of little study. Key wetland areas have been acquired for this and other aquatic birds. It is federally listed as endangered and classified as vulnerable by BirdLife International. Of Hawaii’s endangered wetland birds, it is the most numerous.