No conversation about the honeycreepers would be complete without mention of the ΄ākepa. Though populations once existed on Maui and Oʻahu, these little birds can now only be found on Hawaiʻi island.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that roughly 16,000 wild Hawaiʻi ΄ākepa remain, though the exact number could range anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 individuals.
Like theʻiʻiwi and theʻakikiki, ΄the Hawaiʻi ākepa have been pushed to ever-higher elevations in our native forests by encroaching populations of introduced mosquitos, which can carry avian malaria.
Another factor restricts the territory of the Hawaiʻi ΄ākepa. These honeycreepers are obligate cavity nesters, which is a fancy way of saying that they build their nests in the natural cavities that form in the biggest and oldest ΄ōhia and koa trees. As a result, you can only hear the high-pitched trill of a male Hawaiʻi ΄ākepa in the few preserved stretches of our native forests.
