Celebrating Hawaii’s Birds – The ABA says aloha to the Akikiki, Oreomystis bairdi
Read more about the Akikiki in the current issue of the ABA Birding Magazine:
In this issue, we continue a year-long ABA aloha to the remarkable avifauna of Hawaii. We kicked off the series in the February issue, with ABA president Jeffrey A. Gordon’s tribute to the 2018 Bird of the Year, the Iiwi. In this issue, Hawaiian ornithologists Lisa Crampton and Helen Raine lead us in an apprecia- tion of the critically endangered Akikiki—subtle in appearance, but striking in behavior and ecology.
The Akikiki is Hawaii’s answer to a nuthatch, hang- ing upside down and contorting itself into knots to chase down insects and spiders among bark, li- chens, and mosses. Found only on the island of Kauai, the bird is actually a Hawaiian honeycreeper. It doesn’t have the showy plumage of other natives, such as the crimson Iiwi, but the Akikiki quickly becomes a favor- ite of birdwatchers, as it rockets up tree trunks after invertebrates or performs elaborate courtship dances.
Find the full article here: Crampton & Raine!
The Kaua’i Forest Bird Recovery Project thanks all our partners: Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Hawaii, PCSU, San Diego Zoo Global, American Bird Conservancy, National Fish and Wildlife Federation, United States Geological Service, The Nature Conservancy, Kokee Resource Conservation Program, and Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development, and Mohamed bin Zayed Conservation Fund, among others.
‘Akikiki- Photo by Patrick Blake
