The story Although it was once well known to the natives of Hawaii, by the time that Europeans began their ornithological exploration of the island, this species has virtually disappeared. The striking red, black and silver Ula-ai-Hawane is known from just five specimens, two in New York (one of which is either an immature or […]
Category: Drepanididae
Kona Grosbeak (Chloridops kona)
The story The Hawaiian honeycreepers form one of the most striking illustrations of adaptive radiation, but, unfortunately, so many of them are extinct that the example is now historical rather than living. At some point in prehistory an ancestral honeycreeper stock somehow arrived at the Hawaiian Islands and found a situation that was ripe for […]
Greater Amakihi (Hemignathus sagittirostris)
The story The Greater Amakihi, a rather non-descript little honeycreeper coloured olive green, was discovered by the world of ornithology during 1892 when Rothschild’s collector Henry Palmer took four specimens. In December 1895 a few individuals were collected, and the species was located again during 1900. The following year it was found once more, since […]
Akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus)
The story Because it is so poorly known, the honeycreeper family, in particular its extinct members, arouses a certain amount of controversy. It is classified and reclassified over and over again, and drastic revisions of the family are made from time to time. Unfortunately, these revisions are, of necessity, made from specimen material rather than […]
Black Mamo (Drepanis funerea)
The story A bird very closely related to the Hawaii Mamo once lived on the island of Molokai. Here it was discovered by R. C. L. Perkins at an altitude of 1525 metres during June 1893. What is known of the species comes largely from Perkins’s account. Individuals were only ever seen low down in […]
Hawaii Mamo (Drepanis pacifica)
The story The Hawaii Mamo suffered in the same way and for the same reason as the Hawaii ‘O’o. The rich yellow feathers of the uppertail- and undertail-coverts attracted the attention of the kings and princes of Hawaii, and these feathers were used in the making of ceremonial cloaks and other artifacts. The most famous […]
Koa Finch (Rhodacanthis palmeri)
The story The Koa Finch is something of a mystery. Was it one species or was it two? Were the “Greater” and “Lesser” Koa Finches both members of the same species? During 1891 Henry Palmer was busy collecting specimens on the Hawaiian Islands for Walter Rothschild. The enormously wealthy scion of the famous banking family […]