WatchList Species Account for Oahu ‘Alauahio (Paroreomyza maculata)

Qualifies for the list as a Red List Species

This Oahu Alauahio, also known as the Oahu Creeper, was endemic to Oahu; common in the late 19th Century but rare by 1930, it is now thought to be extinct. The last probably sighting was in 1990. The species is very similar to the Oahu Amakihi, and many of the recent claims of sightings may be due to confusion with the latter. Found only on the island of Oahu, this species was common in the late 1890s but had become rare by 1930. There are only a handful of accepted records since 1940, with the last probable sighting in 1990. Recent sightings were all in the mid to upper regions of the Ko’olau Mountains, between 300 and 650 m, where there is remnant native lowland forest that has been extensively degraded by introduced plants. Extensive surveys by state biologists in 1992 failed to record it and it is now thought to be extinct. Despite doubts as to its current existence, the bird is listed as federally endangered.

The bird’s natural history is little known, but the presumption is that it resembled its congener, the Maui Alahahio. The bird apparently fed on invertebrates and was never observed feeding on nectar. It foraged on trunks and limbs of trees and shrubs’ probing the bark for insects. Deforestation and mosquito-borne avian diseases are quite likely among the chief reasons for its disappearance. In addition to disease and habitat destruction and degradation, predation may have played a role, though there is no information, since the bird had become so rare even 70 years ago. Presumably Short-eared Owls and introduced cats, rats and mongoose preyed on the birds, and pigs and other domestic ungulates degrade habitat. Although pigs were introduced by the Polynesians, they were kept in the villages as a valuable resource; European pigs were introduced by sailors in the late 1700s and through tearing open tree fern turnks and wallowing behavior they degraded the habitat and created breeding sites for mosquitoes. Goats and cattle had considerably reduced native forests before the advent of the 20th Century.