ʻAkiapolaʻau

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ʻAkiapōlāʻau
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Hemignathus
Species:
H. wilsoni
Binomial name
Hemignathus wilsoni
(Rothschild, 1893)
Synonyms

Hemignathus munroi (

Pratt
, 1979)

The ʻakiapōlāʻau (Hemignathus wilsoni), pronounced ah-kee-ah-POH-LAH-OW, is a species of

specialist species). The ʻakiapolaʻau is a pudgy bird which has a whitish bottom and tail, black legs, yellow chest, orangish head, black face mask and bill and gray black wings. The male's song is either a loud, short pit-er-ieu or a rapid warba-warba.[3] Its various calls include an upslurred whistle, a short cheedle-ee warble, and a short sweet.[2] Due to the recent disappearance of the Kauai nukupuʻu in the 1900s and the Maui nukupuʻ
u in the 1990s, leading to fears that they may be extinct, the ʻakiapōlāʻau may be the last of its genus. It is the only member of the subgenus Heterorhynchus, which has a woodpecker-like feeding habitat and exclusively preys on insects, in contrast to the nukupu'us, which were both insect-eaters and also hummingbird-like nectarivores.

Distribution

The ʻakiapōlāʻau occurs mainly in

māmane (Sophora chrysophylla) -naio (Myoporum sandwicense) dry forests at elevations of 1,900 to 2,900 metres (6,200 to 9,500 ft) on Mauna Kea, but this population was extirpated in 2002.[2]

Diet

It feeds on insects which are found hidden within the branches of the trees, along with the nectar of flowers shaped like its bill. It also looks for invertebrates at the floor of the forest where there is a large amount of natural growth. This bird uses its long bill to peck open the bark to reach the larvae; it then uses its thin upper bill to probe out the meal and its lower bill to crush its meal.[4]

Breeding

Several nests of this species have been discovered, most of them only having one egg, and the rate of the egg to maturation is only fifty percent. It breeds only every other year and is therefore a slow reproducer.[4]

Conservation and threats

Hemignathus wilsoni was common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, after that the population was being affected by

loss of habitat, where its forests are cut down. Rats, an introduced species, attack both the food sources and the birds themselves. Cats and dogs
also hunt the birds.

Alien plants like the

koa and ohiʻa trees. Pigs create wallows which can destroy the roots of trees and cause the trees to die. These wallows also can be used by mosquitoes as a breeding ground. Mosquitoes
which were introduced to the islands brought diseases that the birds are not resistant to.

This bird was included on the endangered species list in 1967 because of its fragmented populations, its low numbers, low reproductive numbers and habitat loss. Some efforts being made for this species include – aggressive reforestation, trying to get a captive population, the removal of feral

habitat loss and predation by invasive species
.

See also

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22720799A94683442.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Akiapolaau (Hemignathus munroi)". BirdLife Species Factsheets. BirdLife International. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  3. ^ "Hemignathus munroi". Native Forest Birds of Hawai'i. Conservation Hawaii. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  4. ^ a b Pratt, T. K., S. G. Fancy, and C. J. Ralph (2020). Akiapolaau (Hemignathus wilsoni), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.akiapo.01

External links

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