Poʻouli
| Poʻo-uli | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Tribe: | Drepanidini |
| Genus: |
Melamprosops Casey & Jacobi, 1974 |
| Species: | M. phaeosoma |
| Binomial name | |
|
Melamprosops phaeosoma Casey & Jacobi, 1974 |
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The poʻo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma), or black-faced honeycreeper, is a species of passerine bird that is endemic to the island of Maui in Hawaiʻi. It is considered to be a member of the Hawaiian honeycreepers, and is the only member of its genus Melamprosops. It has a black head, brown upper parts and pale grey underparts. This bird is only known from the drier, easternmost side of Maui, and has decreased in numbers so that now only a few individuals, if any, remain. With extinction threatening, efforts have been made to capture birds to enable them to breed in captivity. This has been largely unsuccessful, and in 2004, only two known birds remained, and since then, no further birds have been sighted.
The poʻo-uli is brown above and grayish-white below, with a broad black mask extending behind the eye. Adults are silvery-gray above the mask, shading into brown at the crown, with a bold, pale patch just behind the mask. Juveniles are similar but buffier below with a smaller mask and without gray above. Most earlier published images of the poʻouli were of the juvenile plumage.
The poʻo-uli was not discovered until 1973 by students from the University of Hawaiʻi, who found the bird on the north-eastern slopes of Haleakalā on the island of Maui. It was found during the Hana Rainforest Project at an altitude of 1,980 metres (6,500 ft) above sea level. The poʻo-uli was the first species of Hawaiian honeycreeper to be discovered since 1923. It is dissimilar to other Hawaiian birds. Evidence based on DNA suggests it belongs to an ancient lineage of Hawaiian honeycreepers. It appears to have outlived all its close relatives; that is if it had any close relatives. No other bird – living or fossil – has a structure similar to it.
It feeds mostly on snails, insects, and spiders and nests in native ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) forests.
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Wikipedia