Molokai Creeper
| Kākāwahie | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Above: adult male and female. Below: juvenile male and female | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Genus: | Paroreomyza |
| Species: | † P. flammea |
| Binomial name | |
|
Paroreomyza flammea (Wilson, 1889) |
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The kākāwahie or Molokaʻi creeper, (Paroreomyza flammea) was a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. It is extinct, but was found on the Hawaiian island of Molokaʻi in Hawaii.
The kākāwahie was 5.5 in (14 cm) long. This bird had the appearance of a ball of flame, especially males, which were scarlet red all around. The female had more of a brownish tinge to its belly. Its call was a chip like someone was cutting wood in the distance. They were discovered in the late 19th century when Scott Barchard Wilson, a British ornithologist was lost in the fog. Wilson had shot down a female and two bright males. He collected several specimens and skins of other species of Molokaʻi birds and then went back to England. They were fast flitting birds but nevertheless, they were still endangered. It is depicted in several paintings from the early 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
The kākāwahie lived in the Akoke Forests. Its stronghold in the Akoke Forests was the Kamokau Plateau, where it was seen before disappearing in 1963.
Apparently similar to the Maui Nui ʻalauahio, it used its blunt and short beak to peck out insects from old naio (Myoporum sandwicense) trees. It mainly fed on the larvae of beetles and lepidoptera; however in rare cases, it sipped nectar from flowers, which included the naio. The exterior of its nest was reportedly composed of moss. The binomial name of this species, Paroreomyza flammea, refers to its appearance being to similar to that of a ball of fire as it flit from tree to tree in search of invertebrates.
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