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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

ʻAkekeʻe

Loxops caeruleirostris

• legendary
• 92 km/h
• Critically Endangered

A flash of yellow-green in Kauaʻi's last cloud forest. Fewer than a thousand left to carry your words.

Population

Fewer than 638 mature individuals (2021 estimate); declining approximately 21% per year, among the fastest declines of any Hawaiian bird, with modeled extinction possible by ~2028 absent intervention

Habitat

Native wet and mesic montane ʻōhiʻa lehua-dominated forest, restricted to elevations above roughly 1,100 m (3,600–4,000 ft)

Fun fact

The ʻAkekeʻe is the only Hawaiian honeycreeper with crossed bill tips (convergent with true crossbills), using them like scissors to pry open ʻōhiʻa buds and reach hidden insects.

Range

Endemic to the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaii; now confined to three high-elevation areas on the Alakaʻi Plateau — Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve, Kōkeʻe State Park, and Waimea Canyon State Park

Diet

Insects and spiders (larvae especially) extracted from ʻōhiʻa leaf and flower buds using its crossed, scissor-like bill tips; also takes some nectar

Size

0.11 m