Hawaiian Birds – Akikiki Breeding

The ‘Akikiki, a Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the island of Kaua‘i, builds a simple open-cup nest between March and May. The nest is composed primarily of a moss exterior and a lining of strips of ‘ohi’a bark, plant rootlets, and other fine plant fibers. Using materials gathered from live ‘öhi‘a trees, and constructing their nests in ‘öhi‘a trees, camouflages their nests making them difficult to detect.

Both male and female participate in nest construction with the male remaining close to the female, occasionally feeding her. Their short, straight, bifurcated tongue is well designed for extraction of insects, insect larvae, caterpillars, and spiders from crevices in bark. May brings a clutch of one to two eggs, followed by incubation (16-18 days) and nestling period (17-19 days), and the female ‘Akikiki exhibiting strong fidelity to the nest.

Juveniles have pale spectacles, fluffy plumage, and make distinctive begging call. When being fed, young ‘Akikiki (Oreomystis bairdi) typically perch on a branch lower than adult, quivers its wings and gapes while calling. Juveniles make a staccato d-d-d-d-dit call, while adults make several types of calls including a quiet cheep call and a distinct whit call. The song is a short, moderately descending trill that softens at the end, and presumably made only by male. Many Hawaiian honeycreepers also have a quiet vocalization, or whisper song. The whisper song of ‘Akikiki is an elaborate series of chips, cheeps, whinnies, squeaks, jumbled primary song, and mimicry of the calls of other species. Photo by Jim Denny.

Hear the ‘Akikiki produced by SoundsHawaiian

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