Grass and picked corn under a high plains sky, Hawaii — Grass and picked corn under a high plains sky, HawaiiOwn work · CC BY-SA 3.0

Hawaii

Species on recordOpen now0Classified15Record year2026

Issuing agencyHawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlifedlnr.hawaii.gov/dofawRecord year 2026

The reason people drive here

Ring-necked pheasant

Ring-necked pheasant

#1Ring-necked pheasantRing-necked pheasant is an adaptable bird with no single cover type: grassy roadsides and ditches for spring nesting, hayfields as they green up, and dense cattail marsh or stiff native grass for winter. Cover use shifts by season more than any one habitat matters.

2026-27 dates not yet published

44 statesUpland

Every bird classified here

Species run

Status is computed from the published dates, not stored — a stale build cannot show an ended season as open.

Ring-necked pheasant

#1Ring-necked pheasantRing-necked pheasant is an adaptable bird with no single cover type: grassy roadsides and ditches for spring nesting, hayfields as they green up, and dense cattail marsh or stiff native grass for winter. Cover use shifts by season more than any one habitat matters.

2026-27 dates not yet published

44 statesUpland

Green Pheasant

Green PheasantGreen pheasant in Hawaii is likely a color variant within the state's interbred ring-necked pheasant population rather than a distinct target, historically favoring moister, higher-elevation forest on Hawaii Island's slopes. It's hunted the same way as ring-necked pheasant.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Kalij Pheasant

Kalij PheasantKalij pheasant, locally called "jungle pheasant," lives in dense subtropical forest on Hawaii Island's leeward slopes, with a newer population on Oahu's Waianae Range. It's the only place it can legally be hunted outside its native Himalayan foothills.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

California quail

#14California quailCalifornia quail live in patchy brush country, chaparral, oak-woodland edges, riparian thickets, and farmland margins, always within an easy walk of water. Coveys shuttle daily between heavy brushy cover and more open, grassy feeding ground.

2026-27 dates not yet published

9 statesUpland

Gambel's quail

#13Gambel's quailGambel's quail key on brushy desert washes and arroyos, mesquite, catclaw, and cactus cover cutting through open desert flats. Coveys don't need daily water but are commonly found near it, with numbers tracking winter rainfall.

2026-27 dates not yet published

9 statesUpland

Japanese Quail (Coturnix)

Japanese Quail (Coturnix)Japanese quail occupies mid-elevation grassland and open agricultural-adjacent country on several Hawaiian islands. It's a genuinely cryptic, hard-to-detect bird, so its real distribution is patchier and thinner than population estimates suggest.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Chukar

#7ChukarChukar live in steep, dry, rocky country: canyon walls, talus slopes, rimrock, and cheatgrass hillsides, usually within reach of a spring or seep. This is terrain-first hunting; expect a serious climb wherever chukar are found.

2026-27 dates not yet published

24 statesUpland

Gray Francolin

Gray FrancolinGray francolin occupies arid, open country: cultivated plains, dry grassland, scrub forest, and thorn scrub. In Hawaii it's established on dry, low-elevation ground on nearly every main island, most commonly in the western lowlands.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Black Francolin

Black FrancolinBlack francolin lives in dry, open country: croplands, mixed grass and shrub, and weedy field edges, often near a canal or irrigation ditch. In Hawaii it's found on dry western slopes across all six main islands.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Erckel's Francolin

Erckel's FrancolinErckel's francolin is Hawaii's most habitat-flexible francolin, found in dry open ranchland and scrub on several islands but also true forest interior, such as Kauai's Alakai Swamp. It's the most actively hunted of Hawaii's three francolin species.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Chestnut-Bellied Sandgrouse

Chestnut-Bellied SandgrouseChestnut-bellied sandgrouse occupies barren semi-desert and dry stubble field. In Hawaii the only established population is on Hawaii Island's dry Waimea-Kohala corridor: open ranchland, lava shrubland, and dry stream-bed country.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Spotted Dove

Spotted DoveSpotted dove favors human-adjacent open country in Hawaii: agricultural edges, gardens, pasture, and urban-adjacent scrub rather than dense forest. It's one of the state's most numerous introduced birds, though hunting pressure on it stays light.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Barred Dove

Barred DoveBarred dove (Zebra Dove) favors Hawaii's dry lowlands: agricultural fields, pasture breaks, and suburban edge with open, short-grass feeding ground near water. It's Hawaii's most abundant introduced bird, though little modern hunting pressure targets it.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Peafowl

PeafowlPeafowl in Hawaii live in dry leeward-slope forest where banana poka fruit is available, on Hawaii Island's Puuwaawaa Ranch area and Oahu's Mount Kaala/Makaha Valley. Unlike most Hawaii game birds, they were introduced for ornamental reasons, not hunting stock.

2026-27 dates not yet published

1 statesUpland

Mourning dove

#9Mourning doveMourning dove is a habitat generalist found wherever open farmland, scattered trees, and reliable water meet, from cut grain fields to riparian edges. Birds travel daily between a roost, a feeding field, and water, so activity concentrates along those flight lines.

2026-27 dates not yet published

49 statesFederal framework

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