Branta sandvicensis
Silhouette: Kai Caspar · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The nene (Branta sandvicensis), also known as the nēnē or the Hawaiian goose, is a species of bird endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The nene is exclusively found in the wild on the islands of Maui, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi, and Hawaiʻi. In 1957, it was designated as the official state bird of the state of Hawaiʻi.
The Hawaiian name nēnē comes from its soft call. The specific name sandvicensis refers to the Sandwich Islands, a former name for the Hawaiian Islands. The holotype specimen of Anser sandvicensis Vigors is held in the vertebrate zoology collection at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool, with accession number NML-VZ T12706. The specimen was collected from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands) and came to the Liverpool national collection via the Museum of the Zoological Society of London collection, Thomas Campbell Eyton's collection, and Henry Baker Tristram's collection.
It is thought that the nene evolved from the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), which most likely arrived on the Hawaiian islands about 500,000 years ago, shortly after the island of Hawaiʻi was formed. The Canada goose is also the ancestor of the prehistoric giant Hawaiʻi goose (Branta rhuax...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Haleakala National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Hawaii Volcanoes National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
No species of the same family or order lives in Haleakala National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Hawaiian Goose sighting in Haleakala National Park on a given day, based on 805 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 32 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Hawaiian Goose in Haleakala National Park on a given day, against about 30% in April, the lowest month.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hawaiian Goose sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Hawaiian Goose sightings, Haleakala National Park ranks 2nd at about 50%. The best odds are in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (United States, about 90%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hawaiian Goose is recorded against all the birds logged in Haleakala National Park (805 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
