Iiwi

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Iiwi by Robert Hollyer / Macaulay Library

Finches

IiwiDrepanis coccinea

ORDER: Passeriformes
FAMILY: Fringillidae

Basic Description

The Iiwi is one of the crown jewels of Hawaiian birdlife, a brilliant vermilion-and-black songbird with a long, deeply curved bill. This Hawaiian honeycreeper moves noisily about the canopy of mountain forests on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. As it searches for nectar from ohia, mamane, and other native flowers it keeps up a running chatter of shrill notes. This species is now confined largely to areas above the range of mosquitos that carry avian malaria—a disease that has severely threatened many Hawaiian songbirds—but it is vulnerable to climate change that could allow mosquitos and malaria to expand upslope into Iiwi’s current core range.

More ID Info

Year-roundBreedingMigrationNonbreeding

Range map provided by Birds of the World

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Other Names

Iiwi (Spanish)
Iiwi rouge (French)

Cool Facts
- Some 6-7 million years ago, a House Finch-like ancestor colonized the Hawaiian Islands, kicking off a remarkable diversification that eventually produced more than 50+ species of Hawaiian honeycreepers, including the Iiwi. Sadly, more than half of the Hawaiian honeycreepers have gone extinct in recent centuries, and most of the remaining species are threatened.
- The name Iiwi comes from the Hawaiian language and is probably based on its song. Juveniles are sometimes referred to by a different name, Iiwipopolo, and on the island of Kauai, Iiwi is known as Olokele.
- Why does the Iiwi have such a unique, sickle-shaped bill? Historically, they fed heavily on long, curved native flowers, and ornithologists believe that Iiwi’s distinctive bill coevolved to fit these flower shapes. As these native "lobelioid" plants have declined or gone extinct, Iiwi have shifted to feeding mainly on smaller ohia flowers, and it appears that bill size might be shrinking a tiny amount (0.5 mm over the past 100 years) as a result.
- Iiwi are not migratory, but they do manage to get around. After the breeding season, Iiwi move both downslope and upslope from nesting sites to feed on native flower blooms. Each night, however, they join large mixed-species groups with Apapane to fly to mid-elevation roosts. In the case of birds foraging at lower elevations, these evening commutes involve flying 3-6 km (1.8–3.6 miles) uphill to roost around 1,600 meters (5,200 feet) elevation, well above the range of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
- The oldest recorded Iiwi was a male that was 8 years, 9 months old when it was recaptured during banding operations and released in 2003.