S p e c i e s o f t h e M o n t h
EXTINCT
last collected by A. Bloxham in 1825 at Honolulu
AMAUI
Oahu Thrush
Myadestes obscurus oahuensis
In 1825 Andrew Bloxam, an English naturalist and bird collector, arrived in Honolulu aboard the HMS Blonde. Bloxam recorded in his diary (May 1825) that the Oahu Thrush was common and inhabited the forest fringe of east Oahu. Bloxam and his companions spent a night on the east side of Oahu. After an uncomfortable night they made an early start up the Nuuanu pali back to Honolulu. The following is a quote from page 43 of his diary: "We soon began to ascend the pass the sun rising at the time amid the chirping of small birds and the melodious notes of a brown thrush, the only songster on the islands."
The Oahu thrush was closely related the other Hawaiian thrushes found on Hawaii ( Omao), Kauai ( Kamao) , and Molokai and Lanai(Olomao). R.C.L. Perkins thought these were corruptions of the name Amaui, shortened from Manu-a-Maui, the bird of the demigod Maui. He thought its fine song justified the rank.
George Munro in his book ,Birds of Hawaii, describes the Amaui as a fine singer and that the song of the Hawaii thrushes surpasses in beauty that of all the other native Hawaiian forest birds.The birds were Dusky olive brown on upper parts, lighter on head, quills mostly dark brown, underneath ashy gray; bill black and bristled at the base, legs and feet brown. Length 7.50 inches.
Bloxam's specimens were lost and there is no known specimen existing in the world at this time.
Sub -fossil bones of the Oahu thrush were recovered by Storrs Olson and Helen James from water filled limestone sinkholes at Barbers Point, Oahu.
This little known species most likely became extinct shortly after the introduction of rats, cats and mongoose into its environment. The last Amaui was recorded only forty seven years after the discovery of Hawaii by Captain James Cook in 1778 and was one of the first Oahu forest bird species to fly into the dark abyss of extinction .
Please do what you can to save the native Hawaiian forest bird species that remain.
