Hawaiian Birds – Akekee
The ‘Akeke‘e is a small green and yellow bird found only in the mountains of Kaua‘i in the Hawaiian Archipelago. This Hawaiian honeycreeper lives above 3,250 feet elevation in native forests of the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve, Kōkeʻe State Park, and Waimea Canyon State Park.
Both sexes are greenish above, with yellow below, yellow cap and rump, and the female being slightly duller than the male. It is distinguished from other honeycreepers by its broad triangular face mask, long, notched tail, and conical bill. The bill is bluish gray, with the tip of lower mandible curved to one side. The active ʻAkekeʻe forages mostly in the native ‘ohi’a tree, and uses its unusual bill like scissors to cut open leaf and flower buds in search of insects to eat. This methodical probing is distinctive and helps identify it from a distance.
This Hawaiian honeycreeper was considered common in the late 1800s and into the early 1960s. The ‘akeke‘e population appeared to be relatively stable, even while other endemic Kaua‘i birds were sharply declining, and its population was estimated to be nearly 8,000 birds in 2000. However, the population dropped to approximately 3,500 birds by 2007, and is estimated to occupy only 10 to 12 percent of its original range. The ‘Akeke‘e (Loxops caeruleirostris) is now protected (2010) under the Endangered Species Act along with the ‘Akikiki. These two species join 33 other bird species listed as endangered and another listed as threatened in Hawai‘i. Photo by Jack Jeffrey.
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.
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Hawaiian Birds – Akikiki
The ‘Akikiki is a small honeycreeper endemic to the island of Kaua`i. Originally there were at least 59 species of Hawaiian honeycreepers as they showed tremendous variation, but human settlement and the introduction of exotic species caused the extinction of all but 17. The ‘Akikiki population and range has also drastically declined in the past 30 years. Subfossil remains suggest a prehistoric island-wide distribution, but the geographic range of the Akikiki declined to about 34 square miles in 1970, and further to about 14 square miles in 2000 – all within the the Alaka`i Wilderness Preserve in northwestern Kaua`i. As its range has contracted, estimates of its population have declined by 64% between surveys in 1973 and 2000, and current estimates put the population numbers between 1,000 and 1,300 individuals.
The ‘Akikiki (Oreomystis bairdi) is energetic and bicolored, appearing dark gray above, white throat, breast, belly, and under tail-coverts. Its legs, feet, and slightly down-curved bill are dull pink. The tail is short and square. Although the sexes of adults are indistinguishable by plumage, the juveniles have a bold white eye-ring resembling spectacles. Also called the Kaua‘i Creeper, they are known for their characteristic creeping behavior when foraging, and are capable of climbing along trunks and branches in any direction, including upside-down and parallel to ground. It is predominantly insectivorous, feeding on caterpillars, beetles, and other arthropods most often along trunks and branches of ‘öhi‘a and other native trees and shrubs. The ‘Akikiki possesses a tongue that is specially designed for extracting insects from crevices in bark, unlike the tubular nectar-drinking tongue of other members of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family.
Found nowhere else in the world but Kauai, they have retreated to the central section of the island, and can be found only in wet, montane forests between 2,000 – 5,300 feet elevation. This is a matter of great concern, as it follows the pattern of other Kauai forest birds now either extinct or critically endangered, and therefore has been classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This bird faces the same threats that have devastated other Hawaiian birds, including loss of habitat and degradation of habitat by introduced plants, invertebrates, and predators such as rats. Hurricanes in 1982 and 1992 also had a heavy impact on habitats by defoliating and toppling trees and facilitating the spread of several highly invasive non-native plants.
State Of The Birds Hawaii
More bird species are vulnerable to extinction in Hawaii than anywhere else in the United States. Before the arrival of people, the Hawaiian Islands supported 113 bird species unique in the world, including 59 species of Hawaiian honeycreepers. Since humans arrived, 71 bird species have become extinct and 31 more are federally listed as threatened or endangered. Of these, 10 have not been seen in as long as 40 years and may be extinct.
Hawaiian birds federally listed as endangered are:
- Short-tailed Albatross
- Hawaiian Petrel
- Nene
- Hawaiian Duck (Koloa)
- Laysan Duck
- Hawaiian Hawk (`Io)
- Hawaiian Moorhen (`Alae `Ula)
- Hawaiian Coot (`Alae Ke`oke`o)
- Hawaiian Stilt (Ae`o)
- Hawaiian Crow (`Alalā)
- O’ahu Elepaio
- Nihoa Millerbird
- Kāma’o
- Oloma’o
- Puaiohi
- Kauai ‘Ō’ō
- Laysan Finch
- Nihoa Finch
- ‘Ō’ū
- Palila
- Maui Parrotbill
- Kaua’i ‘Akialoa
- Nukupu’u
- ‘Akiapōlā’au
- Hawaii Creeper
- O’ahu ‘Alauahio
- Kākāwahie, Hawaii ‘kepa
- Maui ‘kepa
- ‘kohekohe
- Po’ouli
- Newell’s Shearwater (threatened)
Still, there are reasons for hope.
- Laysan Ducks have been translocated to Midway Atoll, where the population is thriving.
- In 1994, it was estimated that less than 200 Puaiohi survived in the wild. Then a research and management program focused on two strategies: protecting nests and fledglings from rats, and removing first-clutch eggs from nests to create a captive flock.
- Population growth of forest birds such as the Hawai`i Creeper and `Akiapōlā`au has been dramatic in the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, where they are fencing to exclude feral mammals, aggressively managing invasive plants, and replanting endangered plants.
- Rats were eradicated from Midway Atoll, resulting in an increase of Bonin Petrels.
- Setting aside 7,500-acres at the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve now supports some of Hawaii’s most important concentrations of native birds, including `kohekohe and Maui Parrotbill.
more…
State Of The Birds 2009
Birds of Hawaii Photographic Guide
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hawai’i: The Main Islands and Offshore Waters
This photo guide is organized into five sections based on a general categorization of where the birds are found. These sectors are Urban, Country, Forest, Wetland, and Seabirds. Each bird has a general description of the bird along with notes about the bird’s natural history. This information consists of a mixture of habitat, population status, behavior, seasonal appearance, and introduction background. For the last forty years, Jim Denny has been a resident of Kekaha, Kaua’i, and his photos have appeared in textbooks, conservation literature, and popular magazines including Audubon, Smithsonian, and National Geographic.
Winner of the Ka Palapala Poʻokela Award 2011 for Excellence in Natural Science.
Hawaiian Birds and Laysan Duck Breeding
After pair formation of the Laysan Duck, copulation occurs on land during the late fall and winter. The female starts in the Spring building a well-concealed nest on the ground in a shallow bowl lined with dead grass and down feathers. Eggs typically appear from April to August, where the average clutch size on Laysan Island is approximately four eggs. The newly established population on Midway lays larger clutches. Ducklings are precocious and feed on their own shortly after hatching, but are guarded, brooded, and led to foraging sites by the hen for approximately 40 to 60 days.
The Laysan Duck (Anas laysanensis) is rarely observed swimming or flying and spends about 10 percent of its time each day walking or running on the ground. During midday the ducks rest, then come out to feed on the island’s highlands during the evening and night. Vocalizations are similar to that of a mallard but are rarely heard except during courtship. Male ducks fighting for mates are observed pulling at each other’s breast feathers.
The species hovered on the brink of extinction in the early 1900s when the population dropped to just a handfull of males and a single female. (Talk about pressure.) This decrease was largely due to a combination of hunting by guano mine workers and plume hunters followed by the introduction of European rabbits, which nearly wiped out all of Laysan Island’s vegetation. Lack of vegetative cover permitted erosion and blowing sand partially filled in the lake. The rabbits all subsequently starved to death, at which point the island began to revegetate. By 1987, the Laysan Duck’s numbers were up to 500, but six years later there was a drought that drove the lake’s water level down, causing die-offs of the brine flies that are their principal food item, and the population dropped by 50%. Even after a recent successful translocation effort to Midway Atoll, the species still has one of the smallest geographic ranges of any duck.
