Description of problem (please provide a set of steps we can use to replicate the issue and make as many as you need.): For some reason, CV for Western Cattle-Egret sightings keep suggesting birds like Eastern Cattle-Egret and Snowy Egret, and neither of them are expected in Hawai’i like the CV says.
Step 1: Find an observation of Western Cattle-Egret
The geomodel for eastern cattle egret still does cover much of hawaii: https://www.inaturalist.org/geo_model/1585373/explain I suspect that may change when the next version of the model is released, due to the fairly recent split.
Snowy egret’s geomodel also expects it in Hawaii. There’s currently one RG observation of that species in the state, not sure if that’s what’s skewing it or if there are other factors.
As an aside, I grew up in Hawaii and we did see cattle egrets from time to time, but as of my last trip this past November their numbers are pretty staggering in some places. Kinda crazy.
The Hawaii Audubon journal ‘Elepaio from Aug/Sep 2011 has a detailed article covering this misguided introduction and the multiple consequences for wildlife, agriculture and even aviation safety.
Between July and August, 1959, 150 Cattle Egrets imported from near Miami, Florida were released on Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i, Maui and the Big island (7 ranches and dairies plus the Honolulu Zoo).
The harmful consequences listed in the article include egrets “devour[ing] small birds and the eggs and nestlings of larger birds including seabirds on islands;” “displacing Red-footed Boobies” from nest sites; leaving “droppings [that] eventually kill the tree on which they perch and nest;” potentially “transmitting parasites and disease organisms to livestock, domestic fowl, wild birds and people;” and causing “several near collisions and aborted plane landings”.
Upon its introduction in 1959, the Hawaii Audubon Society said, “Although some of us regard importations with some trepidation, it would seem that the Cattle Egret will not displace any of our native birds”. But for other reasons, it is clear now that this deliberate introduction was a mistake.
Ohashi et al (1988) concluded that “Cattle Egrets are now another member of the list of ‘biological control agents’ introduced to Hawaii which have gone astray from their intended mission and humans today must learn to cope with them.”
My two iNat records for Western Cattle-egret in Hawaii both show one preying on a non-native house mouse. So maybe they provide a small benefit to partly offset their negative effect on native fauna.
