Feeding Wild Birds in Hawaii: Laws, Restrictions, and Penalties You Should Know

Hawaii’s lanais and backyards are full of color: red-crested cardinals hopping across patio tables, zebra doves working the crumbs under a lunch counter, and the occasional nēnē wandering a golf course fairway. Feeding wild birds laws in Hawaii aren’t as simple as tossing out a handful of seed, though. Between a nuisance statute aimed at feral bird flocks, a newer civil fine written specifically for feral chickens, and strict protections for native species, whether feeding a bird is legal depends heavily on which bird it is and where you’re standing.

This breakdown covers what state law actually says, how it differs from county rules and HOA covenants, and what happens if you get caught feeding the wrong bird in the wrong place.

Is It Legal to Feed Wild Birds in Hawaii

Casually tossing bread to a zebra dove on your lanai isn’t a criminal act in Hawaii, but the state has spent more than a decade tightening rules around feeding birds in bulk. The core statute traces back to 2013, when lawmakers added a nuisance provision to the health code after residents in places like Kailua and Kauai reported flocks of feral birds fouling roofs, cars, and walkways. A 2020 bill (HB576) tried to lower the threshold for what counts as “excessive” feeding, defining it as feeding that would attract twenty-five or more feral birds within a twenty-foot radius. That bill exempted specific cases, including a carrier, racing, or show pigeon in the possession of a person with a valid pigeon ownership permit, and migratory birds fed in compliance with a federal migratory bird permit.

The nuisance angle exists partly because voluminous bird droppings have also decreased property values by corroding home surfaces and making affected communities unpleasant places in which to live. Frustration over feral chickens in particular pushed lawmakers further. A 2023 measure, HB72, establishes a $500 civil fine for the feeding or attempted feeding of any feral chicken, requires the department of health to enforce the prohibition regardless of whether a nuisance determination is made, and authorizes county police departments to issue citations. That’s a meaningful shift from earlier enforcement, which relied entirely on health inspectors.

Feeding gets more complicated once native or protected birds enter the picture. State law separately makes it illegal to intentionally or recklessly take, catch, injure, kill, or destroy, or attempt to take, catch, injure, kill, or destroy, any wild bird, or to keep or have possession of any wild bird. Feeding itself isn’t the same as taking a bird, but wildlife officials treat habituation from feeding as a documented harm to native species. The state’s own guidance is blunt: don’t feed wildlife, even if you’re tempted to share your lunch with a nēnē or leave food on the ground for feral animals. If you want help telling a protected native species apart from an introduced one before you decide whether to feed it, this guide to white birds in Hawaii is a useful starting point, and the state’s rooster laws in Hawaii cover the closely related feral chicken issue in more depth.

Pro Tip: If you’re unsure whether a bird on your property is a protected native species or an introduced one, treat it as protected until you confirm otherwise. Feral chickens, doves, and cardinals carry very different legal consequences than a nēnē or native forest bird.

Bird Feeder Placement and Height Rules in Hawaii

Hawaii doesn’t have a statewide statute dictating how high a bird feeder must hang or how far it needs to sit from a property line, which puts it in a different category from some mainland states with explicit feeder-placement ordinances. That doesn’t mean placement is a free-for-all. Practical guidance from Hawaii birding resources points to real risks: seed feeders carry a risk of contamination from molds if the feeder is not cleaned regularly, a risk of window collisions if the feeder sits close to the house, and competition from undesired species around the feeder.

County zoning and HOA rules fill the gap where state law is silent. Since Hawaii has only four counties, and each one handles its own animal and zoning rules, a feeder setup that’s fine in a rural part of Hawaii County might run into a condo association’s covenants on Oahu. Before installing a permanent feeder, it’s worth checking both your county’s nuisance ordinances and any HOA restrictions layered on top.

• Mount feeders away from windows to reduce collision risk.
• Clean feeders on a regular schedule to prevent mold buildup in Hawaii’s humidity.
• Keep feeders elevated and away from dense ground cover that shelters rats or mongooses.
• Avoid platform-style feeders in areas already dealing with feral chicken complaints.

Feeding Waterfowl: Ducks, Geese, and Special Restrictions in Hawaii

Hawaii’s most iconic waterfowl case is the nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), the state bird and a species found in the wild only across a handful of the islands. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the Hawaiian goose from endangered to threatened status in 2019, but that downgrade didn’t loosen feeding restrictions. Federal wildlife officials specifically list feeding and habituation among the ongoing threats to the species, alongside vehicle collisions and predation by invasive mammals. Nēnē are protected under both federal and state law, and visitors are told plainly: do not approach, do not feed.

Migratory ducks and geese passing through Hawaii on the Pacific flyway fall under a different framework. Feeding a migratory bird isn’t automatically barred by the feral-bird nuisance statute, since the law carves out an exemption for anyone feeding a migratory bird in compliance with a migratory bird permit issued pursuant to federal regulations. Game ducks and other game birds carry their own permit requirements entirely separate from casual feeding: a state-issued permit is required to possess, injure, kill, destroy, sell, transport, or export any indigenous wildlife or introduced wild bird, including game birds, under the administrative rules governing hunting. Anyone raising or handling game waterfowl should review Hawaii’s hunting laws in Hawaii before assuming a duck on their property is fair game to feed, relocate, or keep.

Important Note: Feeding a nēnē, even with good intentions, can contribute to habituation that wildlife biologists have already flagged as a threat to the species’ recovery. This applies whether you encounter one on a golf course, a highway shoulder, or a national park trail.

Bear-Attractant Laws That Affect Bird Feeders in Hawaii

Hawaii has no wild bear population, so the bear-resistant feeder ordinances common in states like California or North Carolina simply don’t exist here. That’s a genuine difference from mainland feeding laws, and it’s worth knowing if you’re comparing Hawaii’s rules to a state you’ve lived in before. But the absence of bears doesn’t mean feeders are risk-free.

Hawaii’s attractant problem centers on invasive species instead. State wildlife officials warn that bird feeders may draw in invasive species, such as the rose-ringed parakeet, which eat fruit crops and use up resources that could otherwise go to at-risk native species. Rats, mongooses, and feral cats are also drawn to spilled seed and can turn a backyard feeder into a predator magnet for the very birds you’re trying to attract.

• Use feeders with catch trays to limit spilled seed on the ground.
• Store birdseed in sealed containers, since loose bags attract rats and mongooses.
• Avoid feeding mixes that include fruit or grain favored by invasive parakeets.
• Position feeders where you can monitor and clean up spillage regularly.

HOA and Municipal Bird Feeding Restrictions in Hawaii

City and county rules often go further than state law. In Honolulu, the Department of Parks and Recreation prohibits feeding any animal in city parks, and the broader principle applies elsewhere across the island’s public spaces. That single rule covers everything from pigeons to feral chickens to the occasional stray cat, regardless of whether the feeder intended to cause a nuisance.

Condominium associations and HOAs frequently add their own restrictions on top of county rules, largely because of the same mess and odor complaints that prompted the state’s original nuisance statute. Given that state lawmakers already documented declining property values tied to bird droppings, it’s not surprising that many associations write feeding bans directly into their covenants rather than waiting for a neighbor complaint. This pattern isn’t unique to Hawaii; municipalities in states like Wisconsin use similar nuisance-based ordinances to restrict feeding in dense residential areas.

Rule Source	What It Covers	Typical Restriction
State health code (feral bird nuisance)	Feeding that congregates 25+ feral birds	DOH warning, cleanup order, potential fine
County/municipal park rules	Feeding any animal on public park land	Citation under local park ordinance
HOA/condo covenants	Feeding from lanais, balconies, common areas	Fines or violation notices under private agreement

Feeding Birds on Public Land or Parks in Hawaii

Public land carries its own layer of rules, separate from what applies on private property. Within Honolulu’s city park system, the same blanket ban already noted applies to every visitor, tourist and resident alike. State-managed wildlife areas go further, especially where native and endangered species are present, and officials ask the public to report situations where someone is negatively impacting threatened or endangered birds to 643-DLNR or through the DLNRTip app.

National park land adds another layer of federal protection. Nēnē populations concentrate in upland areas, particularly Haleakalā National Park on Maui and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, where park rules prohibit feeding wildlife outright. If you’re birdwatching in these areas, the same “do not feed” guidance that applies to nēnē extends to nearly every native species you’ll encounter, including the migratory Pacific golden plover that shows up on lawns and golf courses during winter months.

• Honolulu city and county parks: no feeding of any animal, native or introduced.
• State wildlife refuges: feeding native or endangered species can trigger a DLNR complaint report.
• National parks (Haleakalā, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes): federal no-feeding rules apply to all wildlife, with nēnē specifically called out.

Penalties for Violating Wildlife Feeding Laws in Hawaii

Penalties scale depending on which law you trip. Under the original feral bird nuisance framework, the Department of Health can order a person to stop feeding or insist the mess be removed by an outside party, and news coverage of the law’s early enforcement noted that violators can also be fined up to $10,000 per offense. The newer feral chicken fine is more specific and easier to enforce, since it’s a flat $500 civil penalty that county police can issue directly rather than routing every case through a health department nuisance finding.

Violations involving protected wild birds carry criminal-level consequences. Under the state’s wildlife penalty statute, anyone convicted of illegally taking, injuring, or possessing a protected wild bird faces a mandatory fine of not less than $200 for a first conviction, $1,000 for a second conviction within five years, and $2,000 for a third or subsequent conviction, plus up to a year in jail. Separate administrative rule violations, classified by severity, run on their own scale, with Category 3 safety violations assessed at $500 for a first offense, $1,000 for a second, and $2,000 for a third, and first-time administrative rule violators facing fines up to $10,000 in more serious cases. Species-specific penalties can stack even higher: killing or removing an endangered specimen carries an additional fine of $5,000 per threatened specimen and $10,000 per endangered specimen on top of any base penalty.

Violation Type	Penalty Range	Enforcing Agency
Excessive feral bird feeding (nuisance statute)	Warning order, cleanup order, fines historically up to $10,000	Dept. of Health
Feeding feral chickens (HB72)	$500 civil fine	Dept. of Health / county police
Taking/injuring/possessing protected wild bird	$200–$2,000 + up to 1 year jail	DOCARE / courts
Killing or removing endangered/threatened specimen	$5,000–$10,000 per specimen, added to base penalty	DLNR / courts

Anyone dealing with feral chickens on their property should also review Hawaii’s backyard chicken laws, since feeding rules and keeping rules often overlap in practice, and the state’s roadkill laws in Hawaii cover the related question of what to do if a fed or habituated bird ends up injured near a roadway.

The pattern across all of these rules is consistent: Hawaii treats feeding as a legal issue mainly when it creates a nuisance, endangers native species, or involves feral chickens specifically. Casual, small-scale feeding of common introduced birds on your own property is unlikely to draw enforcement, but feeding feral flocks, protected natives, or anything on public land carries real financial risk. When you’re unsure, checking with your county or the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources before setting out food is the safer call, especially if a nēnē or other native species might show up at your feeder.