Competition and predation from introduced species, habitat modification, disease

Kauai Akialoa
Hemignathus procerus

STATUS:
ESA -- ENDANGERED
(possibly extinct)

SIZE:
Length:
7 inches (18 cm)

HABITAT:
Dense, wet ohia forests

POPULATION:
Unknown, possibly extinct

CURRENT RANGE:
Kauai

CONSERVATION:
None

Ou
Psittirostra psittacea

STATUS:
ESA -- ENDANGERED
IUCN -- ENDANGERED

SIZE:
Length:
6.3 inches (16 cm)

HABITAT:
Wet ohia forests

POPULATION:
3 in 1989 on Kauai, 400 on Hawaii

CURRENT RANGE:
Kauai and Hawaii

CONSERVATION:
Captive-breeding program being evaluated; control of introduced predators in refuge area

Kauai O'o
Moho braccatus

STATUS:
ESA -- ENDANGERED
(possibly extinct)
IUCN -- ENDANGERED

SIZE:
Length:
7.5-8.5 inches (19-21.6 cm)
HABITAT:
Dense, wet ohia forests

POPULATION:
Possibly extinct

CURRENT RANGE:
Kauai

CONSERVATION:
Restricted access to critical habitat

This is precisely what has happened on many Pacific islands. Polynesians brought in rats and pigs; Europeans brought in more rats and pigs, as well as cats, dogs, cattle, goats, insects, and a host of other exotic species. In the Hawaiian Islands, forests were converted to pastures and crop land; by the 1950s, three-quarters of Hawaii's natural forests had been cut down or burned. In the Museum's Hawaiian Island diorama, there are three examples of species of birds that have succumbed to these threats -- two Hawaiian honeycreepers and one honeyeater.

Kauai Akialoa
Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, has a total area of about 550 square miles (1,425 sq km). Like many of the Pacific islands, it has unique plants and animals -- species that are found nowhere else. The Kauai akialoa is a striking bird with a long curved bill.

Colex mosquito infects an akailoa honeycreeper with malaria.

It's a honeycreeper, one of a group of birds named for their habit of foraging by shuffling slowly along the ground or a tree branch, methodically looking for insects or nectar. They live in lowland forests, most of which have now been destroyed. It is thought that many honeycreeper species have been seriously affected by avian malaria, an introduced disease.

Early in this century, the Kauai akialoa was considered extinct. In 1965, it was rediscovered, but none has been seen now for 30 years, and it is once again believed to be extinct.

Kauai Ou
The Kauai ou once lived on the six largest Hawaiian Islands; now it's found only in upland forests on the island of Hawaii and in Kauai's Alakai Swamp. In 1989, the total recorded ou population on Kauai was three. There are more on the island of Hawaii, but that population is rapidly shrinking. Recovery plans include captive breeding and protected reserves -- if it isn't already too late.

Some scientists believe that more than 2,000 species and distinct populations of birds have been lost during the last eight centuries as human populations spread across the Pacific islands.

Kauai O'o
Of five species of honeyeaters known to occur in the Hawaiian Islands, four are o'os. They have patches of bright yellow feathers that were once used extensively by native Hawaiians. The population of the Kauai o'o, the smallest of the honeyeaters, dropped below 10 during the 1980s -- too few to even attempt a captive- breeding program. It may well be extinct now. Like honeybees, honeyeaters feed on nectar and serve as important plant pollinators. The loss of these nectar-feeding o'os has left the plants that depend on them vulnerable to extinction. To counteract this threat, a program of artificial pollination has begun in Hawaii. Human volunteers carefully collect pollen of species that have lost their natural helpers and transfer the pollen by hand from plant to plant.