Hawaii Birdwatching and Plant Nature tour excursions Oahu

What is discoveryparrot.com?

For the past four years I've been conducting birding tours for a wide range of clients, including media celebrities, videographers, and other bird guides with the oldest birding tour company on O'ahu.

I created this website to be able to offer customized birding and botanical outings to allow prospective participants the flexibility to reach their birding, botanical and photography goals. I will work with you to design an outing that will get you the birds or experiences you want (for example a photography/videography project), an outing focused on plant life, encountering endangered Hawaiian forest bird species or simply to visit one of the several parrot roosts and photograph them as they arrive for the evening. If your goal is to increase your birding life list as fast as possible we can do that too, the entire Island and even two Islands are birdable in one day!

Multiple seasons of wild parrot field research (mist netting, radio-tracking, behavioral observations, foraging studies, etc.) in Hawai’i, have taught me that this taxon requires an approach with time flexibility to see them well. I'm excited to share incredible parrot wild encounters to educate a wider audience about their ecologies and behaviors. 

Native Hawaiian forest birds are as equally challenging and without doubt, the most rewarding to successfully detect and observe. Thus far on outings we have encountered O'ahu 'Elepaio and 'Amakihi approx. ~87% and ~95% of the time, respectively, over a four year period. I also special locations to get the best views of the less common finch species such as the Red avadavat, African silverbill and Yellow-faced grassquit. 

For the plant fanatics, O’ahu has thousands of native and exotic species with a huge number of old growth specimens and many "holy grail" species that are without compare anywhere in the world. I'm infatuated with the vegetation that the birdlife depends upon as well as the glorious ornamentals that reach their zenith in Hawaii. I have an intimate knowledge of the Hawaiian flora and can expertly guide you to and curate any plant species you want to see out of many thousands of species, particularly on O’ahu.

Birders, bird lovers, plant lovers, naturalists, photographers and videographers will find our outings to be productive, exhilarating and educational. Outings are relaxed with unlimited opportunities to stop wherever you want or can be focused down to a few hours to eclipse a specific bird viewing opportunity. Contact me (below) for details. 

About me:

I have been birding in Hawaii for nearly two decades and have nearly a decade of didactic and practical field knowledge of native and exotic Hawaiian flora, particularly on Oahu. I mentored under the author of the unparalleled monograph - "The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands" (RLP - monograph) viewable here: http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph/

I received a MESM and MS in zoology and botany, respectively and academically published in these disciplines and with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. My field skills are built upon thousands of hours of bird care and behavior observation as an endangered bird species specialist; then later as an academic researcher mist-netting, marking and pioneering radio-telemetry studies of parrots in Hawaii; and finally helping others to enjoy the natural history and birdlife of Hawaii through educational outings.

My goal is to get you the bird encounters, photographs or nature experiences that you expect. I will do my best to make sure you are satisfied. Consider me your birding pal.  

Nature in Hawaii is more than birds so if you have other goals on your bucket list like seeing wild poison dart frogs, gold-dust day geckos, sea turtles, peacock bass, hike to a waterfall, view and photograph spectacular tropical plants such as giant Rudraksha trees, embark on an island-wide discovery of a massive variety of trees, participate in drone fishing, pursue a specific focus such as the Maluku island cockatoos, Laysan albatross, or the Hawaiian endemic forest bird species, take a private boat ride to see White-tailed tropic birds at nesting cliffs or see the first Inca tern ever to visit O’ahu (Aug 2021) we can do that! Contact me, I'd love to hear what you'd like to experience.

All photographs and multi-media on this webpage were shot by me from locations we can go to - I can show you where to get shots like these too! -let's go discover!