Akepa – Photo by Jack Jeffrey / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Similar to the Hawaiian Monk Seal which is an endangered species (mammal) on Hawaii, also on that list for birds are both the Akepa & Elepaio.
The Akepa is one of the smallest honeycreeper birds. The Akepa is similar to a finch and measures approximately ten centimeters in length.
The plumage of adult male Akepa birds are a brilliant red-orange color along with both dusky wings and tail.
Female Akepas feature a pale gray-green plumage and have a yellow-orange tinged stomach. The bills of the female Akepas are conical and are colored a straw-yellow.
You can typically find the Akepa birds in the wet and mesic forest areas of hawaii around 3000 feet or higher in elevation.
Akepas will nest in the cavities of trees and primarily eat spiders and other insects.
Akepa birds used to be abundantly found on the Hawaiian islands Kauai and Maui. Unfortunately, the current population is between 10,000-15,000.
‘Elepaio – Photo by Eric VanderWerf / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The Elepaio bird is a subspecies of the ‘elepaio and found on Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The Elepaio is a small flycatcher bird, and weighs a light 12.5 grams. The Elepaio has beautiful long tail.
Male and female Elepaio birds share similar coloring patterns, dark brown with white stomachs along with light brown streaks on their breast.
The male species of Elepaio birds tend to have more black markings, particularly under its chin.
Elepaio birds mainly feed on a wide variety of invertebrates, which included both fruit flies and mosquitoes.
Male and female Elepaio birds tend to remain in mating pairs all during the year. Matig season for these birds is typically between January and July.
Sadly, the number of Elepaio birds is quite small as there are less than 2,000 of these beautiful birds left in the wild.
The steep decline of the Elepaio bird species is due poor reproduction and low adult survival rates that are caused by disease carried by infected mosquitoes.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the Akepa birds they are so cute and small
an elepaio got caught in my house here in Kailua yesterday…took his picture and then let him go. Didn’t know they lived around here anymore.