Palila

Basic Description

The large, striking Palila is one of the rarest and most distinctive Hawaiian honeycreepers. This critically endangered species, numbering about 1,000 individuals, occurs only in a narrow band of native dry forest on one slope of the Mauna Kea volcano on the island of Hawaii. Adults have a yellow head and breast, black mask, pale gray belly, and darker upperparts. They use their stout bill to extract seeds—their main food—from mamane trees. Palila form loose, vocal flocks outside of the breeding season as they move about in search of fresh sources of mamane seeds.