---
title: "Hawaiimeerkoet"
description: "Fulica alai — Vogels. The ʻAlae keʻokeʻo (Fulica alai), also known as the Hawaiian coot in English, is a bird in the rail family, Rallidae, that is endemic to Hawaii."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/hawaiian-coot
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Hawaiimeerkoet

> Fulica alai — Vogels. The ʻAlae keʻokeʻo (Fulica alai), also known as the Hawaiian coot in English, is a bird in the rail family, Rallidae, that is endemic to Hawaii.

- Scientific name: *Fulica alai*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 2047
- Wikidata: [Q378449](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q378449)
- iNaturalist taxon: [478](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/478)

## Names

- en: Hawaiian Coot
- de: Hawaiiblässhuhn
- es: Gallareta hawaina
- fr: Foulque des Hawaï
- nl: Hawaiimeerkoet
- pl: Łyska hawajska

## Countries with the most observations

US (1982)

## Summary

The ʻAlae keʻokeʻo (Fulica alai), also known as the Hawaiian coot in English, is a bird in the rail family, Rallidae, that is endemic to Hawaii. In Hawaiian, ʻalae is a noun and means mud hen. Keʻo is an adjective for clear or white. It is similar to the American coot at 33–40.6 cm (13–16 in) in length and weighing around 700 g (1 lb 9 oz). It has black plumage and a prominent white frontal shield. Its natural habitats are freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, coastal saline lagoons, and water storage areas. The bird was federally listed in October 1970 as an endangered species  and is considered both endemic and…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_coot

## Photo

![Hawaiimeerkoet](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/hawaiian-coot/medium.jpg)

Photo: Damien Wallace · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/256326835

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/hawaiian-coot?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).