Only one hawk lives and hunts in the forests of the Hawaiian Islands, and its the ‘io, commonly referred to as the Hawaiian hawk. The ‘io is a small, broad-winged raptor found nowhere else in the world. While they only breed on the Big Island, they have been spotted on Maui, O‘ahu, and Kaua‘i. In traditional Hawaiian culture, the ‘io is believed to be an “‘aumakua” – a family or personal god in the shape of an animal. In 1967, the hawk was put on the endangered species list due to various threats such as habitat destruction. Thanks to public and private conservation efforts for the past couple of decades, the hawk now has a stable and healthy population and has recovered. The hawk was recently removed from the Endangered Species List under the Trump Administration by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
