The Song of Our Forests: Hawaiian Honeycreepers
Hawai‘i’s melodious and beautiful honeycreepers evolved with the Hawaiian Islands over millions of years, but we are losing them in our lifetime. Once, there were at least 142 species of native birds across Hawaiʻi, and more than 50 of them were honeycreepers. These birds play essential ecological roles in our forests as pollinators, insect eaters and seed dispersers. Today, only 17 honeycreepers remain, and 11 are endangered. Invasive southern house mosquitoes carrying avian malaria are the most urgent threat. Just one bite can kill a honeycreeper.
Estimated Time to Extinction
If we lose these special birds, we also lose the ecosystem roles they perform and a piece of Hawaiian culture.
Less than 1 year: ‘Akikiki
The ‘Akikiki is found only on Kaua‘i; fossil records show it once inhabited the entire island from mountain forests down to sea level. The tiny bird flits along ‘ōhi‘a and ‘ōlapa branches seeking insects and spiders. Adults lay one-two eggs per year, and juveniles stay with their parents for up to three months after fledging. In 2023 surveys, only five birds were found on Kaua‘i.
3 years: Kiwikiu
Once widespread on both Maui and Moloka‘i, the Kiwikiu is now found only on Haleakalā, Maui. It is known for its parrot-like multi-purpose beak used to open fruit, drink nectar and pry open bark for insects. Kiwikiu mate for life, live up to 16 years and lay just one egg every year or two. Juveniles remain with their parents from five months to nearly a year and a half after fledging.
4 years: ʻAkekeʻe
The ‘Akeke‘e is found only on Kaua‘i. It has a specialized crossover beak that allows it to drink nectar as well as pry open ʻōhiʻa buds and flowers to find bugs to eat. Pairs nest in the uppermost branches of ‘ōhi‘a trees and lay one-two eggs per year. As with other honeycreepers, young birds feed with their parents for several months after fledging.
8 years: ʻĀkohekohe
The largest and longest of the remaining honeycreepers is now found only on Haleakalā, Maui. It earned its Hawaiian name from the sounds it makes—low throaty calls, buzzes, croaks and whistles. ‘Ākohekohe feed mostly on nectar from the flowers of the ‘ōhi‘a tree, which they gather with a specialized tubular, brush-tipped tongue. The female lays one-two eggs per year, which she incubates alone, although both parents feed their chicks.
Our Best Hope
Scientists agree that our best hope—one that can meet the scale and the pace of the threat—is reducing mosquito populations as quickly as possible. TNC and its partners with Birds, Not Mosquitoes are releasing non-biting, male southern house mosquitoes that cannot successfully reproduce. The first releases are taking place on Maui and Kaua‘i. There are no mosquitoes native to Hawaiʻi, and nothing living in Hawaiʻi depends on them for survival. Reducing or removing them will have no negative impact on Hawaiʻi’s ecosystem.
You Can Help
Celebrate
Learn about and celebrate Hawaii’s forest birds during Ka Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele: The Year of the Forest Birds. Photo © Zach Pezillo
Learn
Learn about what’s being done to prevent the extinction of Hawaiian forest birds by TNC and a coalition of partners with Birds, Not Mosquitoes. Photo © Jim Denny
Memory of the ‘Ō‘ū
One of the last encounters with a native Hawaiian bird.
BirdNote®
Memory of the ‘Ō‘ū
Written by Mark Bramhill
Mark Bramhill: This is BirdNote.
Like many native Hawaiian birds, the ‘Ō‘ū is presumed to be extinct. It was a stout, secretive yellow-and-green honeycreeper, seen for the last time in the late ’80s.
Sam ‘Ohu Gon was one of the last people to see an ‘Ō‘ū. He’s worked at The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i for nearly 40 years. And back in 1988, he took part in an Audubon Christmas Bird Count, hoping to encounter some of the critically endangered native birds.
Sam ʻOhu Gon: And my team and I had been listening and training ourselves, via tape recordings of various birds of that region to identify the calls of all of the endemic forest birds known from that place.
[Clips of Palila and ‘Ō‘ū are played, sounding like through a tape recorder]
Mark Bramhill: And so Sam and his group are dropped off deep in the native forests on the island of Hawai‘i.
Sam ʻOhu Gon: I remember that day was a miserable, wet and cold day at elevations above 4,000 feet. And every 50 meters we would stop and listen for a certain amount of time, observe whatever birds, write them down. And I remember deep in the Hapu‘u, the native tree fern, section of that forest, and the Hapu‘u so thick there. And the fronds are very solid. You know, if they’re really dry, you can break through them. But they’re criss-crossing from all of the tree ferns growing in such density, and you’re trying to push through those old fronds that haven’t gotten soft enough yet. We were getting exhausted, and, uh, your senses tend to dull, um, when you’re miserable and cold and wet and exhausted in the middle of nowhere. And yet, we were stopped at one of those stations, and we heard that call…
[‘Ō‘ū singing]
Sam ʻOhu Gon: …and we looked at each other, and could hardly believe it, right? Did you hear that? You, you think that’s what we, what we heard. And, uh, we heard a call several times and then it was right above us. So we looked, took our binoculars up, but it was a tall forest and was drizzly and gray. And we were lucky enough to see a ghostly silhouette in the gray drizzle of an ‘Ō‘ū’s butt, essentially.
[‘Ō‘ū singing]
Sam ʻOhu Gon: We noted our location and on our return, we went to the lead ornithologist and asked to listen to the calls of the birds. And we told him, don’t tell us which birds we’re listening to. Just play the bird songs. And when we heard the call of the ‘Ō‘ū, we looked at each other, we asked him to stop. And we said, that’s exactly what we heard.
That was the first time and the last time that I had ever heard ‘Ō‘ū. It was a very hopeful feeling, but unfortunately, that was the last year that they were ever heard.
Mark Bramhill: The sense of loss feels personal to Sam—but he also feels a sense of honor in carrying the bird’s memory.
Sam ʻOhu Gon: To have seen plants and birds and animals that are just not to be seen, in common existence. That is a great privilege to me. I was so fortunate to be able to do that.
Mark Bramhill: The ‘Ō‘ū lives on, in stories, as the vibrant green in traditional Hawaiian featherwork. And people like Sam are working to ensure the remaining species, like the ‘I‘iwi, the ‘Apapane, and the Palila, stay with us.
[‘Ō‘ū singing]
For BirdNote, I’m Mark Bramhill.
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