Nene

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The state bird of Hawaii, a goose of lava fields and upland grass. It has a black head and a buff neck with deep furrows. It lives away from water, so its webbing is much reduced.

See it on the 3D globe →

At a glance

Class: Birds
Lives in: Volcanic slopes of Hawaii
Diet: Plant eater (herbivore)
Weight: about 2 kg
Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN VU)
Habitat: grasslands, mountains

Quick answers

Where does the Nene live?

It lives in grasslands, mountains. On the globe you can find it near Volcanic slopes of Hawaii.

How big is the Nene?

It grows to about 2 kg.

What does the Nene eat?

Its diet: plant eater (herbivore).

Is the Nene endangered?

It is listed as Vulnerable (IUCN VU).

The nene, or Hawaiian goose, is a bird found only in the Hawaiian Islands. It is the official state bird of Hawai'i, named in 1957, and its Hawaiian name comes from its soft call. Wild nene live on Maui, Kaua'i, Moloka'i and Hawai'i island.

It is a large goose, about 41 centimetres tall, with a black head, buff cheeks and a heavily furrowed neck. Scientists think it evolved from the Canada goose, which probably arrived about 500,000 years ago. The goose lives in shrubland, grassland and dunes of the islands. Once nearly lost, its numbers are now slowly rising.

A goose on lava

Most geese swim, but the nene lives in shrubland, grassland and dunes, away from the water. The webbing on its feet stops farther back from the toes than in other Branta geese, which helps it walk across cooled lava. It spends most of its time on the ground but can fly, and some birds fly daily between nesting and feeding areas. Females weigh 1.5 to 2.6 kilograms and males about 1.7 to 3 kilograms, so a nene is a medium-sized goose, much smaller than its giant extinct cousins.

A comeback

Introduced animals and hunting once pushed the nene toward extinction. Korean Wikipedia reports around 800 wild birds and 1,000 in captivity, and numbers are slowly growing. The black and white diagonal stripes on its neck look like deep furrows, which is a quick way to tell nene from other geese.

Fun facts

It is the state bird of Hawaii; in 1952 only about 30 were left in the wild.
The nene's name copies its soft call.
An extinct giant Hawaiian goose weighed about 8.6 kilograms, over four times more than the nene.
The nene can fly even though it walks a lot.