Kauaʻi ʻōʻō

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Kauaʻi ʻōʻō
Kauaʻi ʻōʻō
Conservation status
Extinct (1987[1])  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
ESA)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	†Mohoidae
Genus:	†Moho
Species:	†M. braccatus
Binomial name
†Moho braccatus Cassin, 1855
Synonyms
Mohoa braccata Cassin, 1855[3] Moho nobilis braccatus (Cassin, 1855)[4] Pseudomoho braccatus (Cassin, 1855)[5] Acrulocercus braccatus (Cassin, 1855)[6]

The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō (/kɑːˈwɑː.iː ˈoʊ.oʊ/) or ʻōʻōʻāʻā (Moho braccatus) was the last member of the ʻōʻō (Moho) genus within the Mohoidae family of birds from the islands of Hawaiʻi. The entire family is now extinct. It was previously regarded as a member of the Australo-Pacific honeyeaters (family Meliphagidae).^[7]

The bird was

It was the last surviving member of the Mohoidae, which had originated over 15-20 million years previously during the Miocene, with the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō's extinction marking the only extinction of an entire avian family in over 500 years.

Etymology

The native Hawaiians named the bird ʻōʻō ʻāʻā, from the Hawaiian word ʻōʻō, an onomatopoeic descriptor from the sound of their call, and ʻāʻā, meaning dwarf.^[9]

Description

This bird was among the smallest of the Hawaiian ʻōʻōs, if not the smallest species, at just over 20 centimetres (8 in) in length.^[9] The head, wings, and tail were black. The rest of the upperparts were slaty brown, becoming rufous on the rump and flanks. The throat and breast was black with white barring, which was particularly prominent in females. The central tail feathers were long, and there was a small tuft of gray feathers under the base of the wing. While the beak and legs were black, the leg feathers were a rich golden yellow. It was the only ʻōʻō known to have eyes with yellow irises. Like other honeyeaters it had a sharp, slightly curved bill for sampling nectar. Its favored nectar sources were Lobelia species and the ʻohiʻa lehua tree. This species was additionally observed foraging in lapalapa trees. It also ate small invertebrates and fruit. The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō was very vocal, making hollow, erratic, flute-like calls. Both the males and females were known to sing.

Extinction

The bird was a cavity nester in the thickly forested canyons of Kauaʻi. All of its relatives have also become extinct, such as the Hawaiʻi ʻōʻō, Bishop's ʻōʻō, and Oʻahu ʻōʻō. Relatively little is known about these extinct birds. The species became extinct from a large range of problems, including mosquito-transmitted diseases (which caused the species to retreat to higher ground, ultimately retreating to high-altitude montane forests in the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve), introduction of mammalian predators, and deforestation.^[10] Higher elevation forests lack tree cavities, so few, if any, nests could be made. As of the early 1960s, the bird had an estimated population of about 34 living individuals. In the 1970s, the only known footage of the bird was filmed by John L. Sincock on Super 8 film and several song recordings were made as well (with Harold Douglas Pratt Jr. being one of the people involved in recording the songs).^[11] In 1981, a pair was found.

The final blows were two