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ʻIʻiwi
Scientific Name: Vestiaria coccinea
Found: Hawai‘i, Maui, and Kaua‘i; was once common on all major islands and was lost on O'ahu in the last decade.
Population Estimate as of 2024: 350,000 (decreasing)
IUCN Status: Vulnerable
About: A truly iconic honeycreeper species, the scarlet ʻiʻiwi is now restricted to higher elevation forests where mosquitoes are less likely to occur. Its curved beak is specially adapted to reach nectar from lobelia flowers but it now mostly forages from ʻōhiʻa, serving as a key pollinator in native forests.
Its beautiful red feathers were once revered and used in traditional feather working but its populations (while still numerous) have declined with the arrival of avian malaria.
PC: Jim Denny
Varied and multiple calls including whistles,
gurgles, and reedy notes.
The most distinctive call sounds like a rusty door hinge.
While foraging among native trees, it rarely
stops moving and can be both loud and aggressive to other nectivorous birds. It remains an important pollinator in native forests.