S p e c i e s o f t h e M o n t h
EXTINCT ?
Specimens collected in 1825 and 1893.
Last confirmed sighting 1903.
Possible sighting in 1976 by Shallenberger and Vaughn of a female Akepa in the central Koolau range of Oahu near the headwaters of Kaukonahua Stream.
OAHU AKEPA
Loxops coccinea rufa
The Oahu Akepa adult male had upper parts rufous orange with brownish wash; wings blackish brown, greenish orange on outer webs; below reddish orange, lighter on abdomen and lower tail coverts, length about 4.37 inches. Females had a nondescript dull gray-green plumage. The name Loxops means "twisted face" and refers to the Akepa's unequal mandibles.
No nesting information exists for the Oahu Akepa but most likely they were cavity nesters like the Akepas on the other islands. Food consisted of insects(especially caterpillars) and spiders, and occasionally nectar from ohia and other flowers visited within the forest canopy. This species specialized jaw musculature and asymmetrical bill allowed it to capture insects by twisting apart buds, small green seed pods, and leaf clusters.
The following is a passage from Birds of Hawaii written by George Munro in 1944;
In a paper by Perkins included with his journal and referring to 1893 he says: " Before I left Waialua ,Oahu, Palmer and Wolstenhome, Lord Rothchild's collectors, arrived there and shared the mountain house with me and afterwards from there camped far back in the mountains. I stayed with them for some time in their tent and was present with Wolstenholme when he shot the male Loxops rufa which had not been obtained since Lord Byron's visit in 1825. There was a second specimen in company with this, probably a female, but though we heard it we did not get in sight of it, nor of any other specimen. After I left... Palmer and his colleague again camped for some time where the Loxops occurred but failed to find another. Some 10 years later I came across a pair far back in the forest in the Wahiawa district, but I had no gun with me at the time."
Munro then writes ; It has not been reported since but may still survive in the more remote forest.
Please do what you can to save the native Hawaiian forest bird species that remain.
