Moloka'i Creeper (Paroreomyza flammea): Rare or Extinct Scarlet Flashes in the Lush Moloka'i Forest

Paroreomyza flammea is commonly known as the Moloka’i creeper. Synonyms, which include Loxops maculata flammea and Oreomystis flammea, reflect the taxonomic bewilderment experienced by naturalists in their attempts to classify the extreme diversity in the honeycreeper avifauna (Latin: avis, "bird" + fauna, "animals") of the Hawaiian islands. Paroreomyza is a finch genus of four species in the subfamily Drepanidinae, Hawai'ian honeycreepers, within the family Fringillidae. About four million years ago, Paroreomyza, now considered the oldest, most divergent genus in its subfamily, likely dissimilated from its Drepanidinae ancestor as a result of selective radiation, whereby a species, in radiating, ie., dispersing, to specific niches within its habitat, i.e., here to the various Hawai'ian islands, displays identifiable variations and adaptations in  shared traits, etc.

Its Hawaiian name, kākāwahie (kah-kah-va-HEE-ay), which means “wood chopping", is thought to derive from the resemblance of its call to the sound of distant wood chopping. Kākāwahie -- not Moloka'i creeper -- is the common name which was officially adopted in 1993 by the American Ornitologists' Union, an organization primarily of professional ornithologists (Greek: ὄρνις, ornis, "bird" + λόγος, logos, "study, research"), that is, scientists specializing in the study of birds.

The Moloka'i creeper is so named because it is endemic to (Greek: ἐν, en, “in” + δῆμος, demos, “people, district”), that is, only found in, Moloka'i, a floral paradise lying between Maui and O'ahu in the Hawai'ian archipelago. With its rectangular shape, Moloka'i covers about 261 square miles (676 square kilometers), with an east to west length of 38 miles (61 kilometers) and a north to south width of about 10 miles (16 kilometers).

Moloka'i's spectacular east end, with scenic extremes of deep valleys and steep coastal cliffs, soars to an elevation of 4,970 feet (1,515 meters). Here, the remote Olokui ("tall hill") Plateau rests, at 4,606 steep feet (1,404 meters), in pristine splendor, protected by surrounding cliffs of the Pelekunu and Wailau ("many waters") Valleys reaching half a mile (800 meters) upwards towards the Pacific Ocean's expansive skies.

In this spectacular, densely forested, lush ecosystem of diverse flora and fauna, the Moloka'i creeper cruises from sea level to vertiginous heights, while favoring safe boggy highlands with ‘ohi’a (Metrosideros polymorpha) and ‘olapa ("flash") (Cheirodendron trigynum) trees in the moss-shrouded, abundant understory, that is, the lowest arboreal (Latin: arbor, "tree") height level, below the crown layer of the forest canopy.

Kākāwahie are known to frequent the vast tracts of 'ōhi‘a trees (Metrosideros polymorpha) in the montane rainforests of eastern Moloka'i.

In the 1890s kākāwahie were observed at a range of elevations, from a few hundred feet (under 100 meters) above sea level to the highest peak at 4,970 feet (1,515 meters). The species particularly flitted in the areas of Hälawa, in the northeast, Kala'e, inland from the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the mid-northern coast, and Püko‘o, in the southeast.

At lower elevations, small groups were occasionally viewed as they foraged in wooded gulches.

Moloka'i creepers are distinguished from other species in the Hawai'ian honeycreepers' subfamily, Drepanidinae, by their size, which tends to be larger, and by noticeable sexual dimorphism (Greek: δι-, di-, "two" + μορφή, morphē, "form"), which is phenotypic (Greek: φαίνω, phainein, "to display; to show" + τύπος, tupos, "model, type"), or intrinsically characteristic, differences, such as coloration, between males and females.

With a length of about 5 inches (13 centimeters), the Moloka'i creeper weighs about half an ounce (14 grams).

A completely scarlet, i.e., orange red, body, framed with scarlet brown wings and tail, dramatically distinguishes the plumage of the male.

The female typically has rusty brown upperparts and grey or buff underparts, occasionally highlighted by rusty edges or with orange throats.

Gradations of color from brown to scarlet are presented in juvenile males.

Legs are light pink brown, and their bills are short and straight.

Synecology (Greek: σύν, syn, “with” + oικoλoγία, ecologia, “house” + “study”) identifies interrelationships between kākāwahie and other inhabitants of the site, such as persistent floral communities.

Consistently coexisting floral species include:

• wild bananas (genus Musa),
• kanawao (Broussaisia arguta) in the Hydrangea family Hydrangeaceae,
• käwa‘u shrub (Ilex anomala) in the holly family Aquifoliaceae,
• köpiko ("navel") (Psychotria mariniana) in the coffee family Rubiaceae,
• lobeliads (genus Clermontia) in the bellflower family Campanulaceae,
• öhi‘a trees (Metrosideros polymorpha),
• ‘ölapa trees (Cheirodendron trigynum) in the ginseng family Araliaceae, and
• olomea shrubs (Perrottetia sandwicensis).

While healthy, visible populations of kākāwahie were observed in the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth century, thereafter rapidly declining numbers were subsequently noted, to the extent that the species was considered rare and endangered by the 1930s.

The last official sightings of kākāwahie occurred, in the same location and by the same observer, in the early 1960s. At that time kākāwahie was already thought to be extinct. Then in 1961 Hawaii State Fish and Game Warden Noah K. Pekelo Jr. (July 17, 1930-March 21, 1993) sighted a pair in the vicinity of Pëpë‘öpae ("shrimp crushed") Bog (21° 7′ 8″ north latitude, 156° 53′ 45″ west longitude), which, at an altitude of 4,800 feet (1,463 meters), is near the summit of Kamakou (Peucedanum sandwicense) Peak, Moloka'i's highest elevation, in the ruggedly formidable heights of the Pelekunu ("smelly [for lack of sunshine]") Valley on the northeast coast. The next year, 1962, Warden Pekelo sighted three Moloka'i creepers, one male and two females, or two juveniles. Warden Pekelo's sighting of one male the next year, on April 29, 1963, was the last official sighting.

Kākāwahie was not detected during bird surveys that have been conducted in the  last two decades of the twentieth century and in the first decade of the twenty-first century: Hawai'i Rare Bird Search 1994 to 1996 and Hawai'ian Forest Bird Surveys in 1980, 1988, and 2004.

On October 13, 1970, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added kākāwahie to the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) List of Endangered Native Fish and Wildlife as a species endangered with extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now suspects that the species may be extinct. Both the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), a global environmental network headquartered in Gland in southwestern Switzerland, and BirdLife International, a global conservation federation that is the designated authority for the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, have assessed kākāwahie's status as extinct.

While retaining an endangered status for kākāwahie, the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, is uncertain about the status of this Moloka'i native, considering that kākāwahie is either extremely rare or indeed extinct:

"Whether this rare bird has found refuge in the lush `ohi`a forests high on the rugged slopes of east Moloka`i is unknown." (Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawai’i Forests & Wildlife Teacher Resources)

The presumed enemies of kākāwahie's existence are linked primarily with nonnative species, human intervention, and consequential habitat degradation or destruction. Forested habitats at lower elevations have been massively disturbed by agriculture and grazing by introduced ungulates (Latin: ungulatus, "hoofed"), many of which have become feral, such as goats (Capra hircus) and pigs (Sus scrofa). Chital, or axis, deer (Axis axis), which were gifted to King Kamehameha V (1830-1872) in 1868, and cattle (Bos taurus), now no longer feral on Moloka'i, had their heyday in the late nineteenth century, causing extensive degradation through browsing and soil compaction. Non-native predators, such as black rats (Rattus rattus) and Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans), as well as avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) transmitted by non-native mosquitoes, have posed serious threats to native species, including kākāwahie.

Human intrusion has taken predictable forms in clearing for agriculture and settlement. Additionally, the male kākāwahie's feathers were prized for adornment of royal ceremonial garments, and definitely by the late nineteenth century kākāwahie were sought as specimens for private and public collections. Of the 138 known extant kākāwahie specimens, which were mainly collected between 1888 and 1907, 134 are held in major museums throughout the world. An additional thirty specimens have been recorded as shot but lost.

Measures to staunch the imbalance of increasingly fragile floral and faunal species in Moloka'i, brought about by endangerment, rarity, or extinction, emphasize the importance of preservation of the landscape, especially the eastern rainforest ecosystem.

• In 1982 The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i (TNCH) created the Kamakou Forest Preserve, at an elevation of (1,000 to 1,600 meters), with the purchase of 2,774 acres (1,123 hectares) from the Moloka'i Ranch.
• TNCH also formed the Pelekunu Preserve, rising from sea level to 5,249 feet (1,600 meters), with the purchase of 5,759 acres (2,312 hectares) of the resplendent Pelekunu Valley from Moloka'i Ranch.
• Two natural area reserves, Oloku'i (1,621 acres; 656 hectares) and Pu'u 'Ali'i (1,333 acres; 538 hectares), established in 1985, are bordered by TNCH's two preserves as well as the Moloka'i Forest Reserve, comprising 11,690 noncontiguous acres (4,730 hectares) established in 1912 by Proclamation of Walter Francis Frear (October 29, 1863-January 2, 1948), third Territorial Governor of Hawai'i.

Surveys that were conducted focused on the area of the Pelekunu Valley and Kamakou Preserve, kākāwahie's historical habitats. An important area that was not searched, however, was another historical habitat, the remote Oloku'i Plateau, which, with its 1,621 acres (656 hectares) of pristine, cloud-shrouded splendor, offers privacy and safety in an ideal habitat for kākāwahie.

It is hoped that a relict (Latin: relictus, "left behind"), that is, remaining, population of kākāwahie is surviving and, indeed, flourishing, flitting confidently like scarlet sparks surging upwards from strong flames, in this formidable haven that fiercely protects its secrets in the way that nature knows best, by inaccessible geography and inalienable geology.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

watercolor by John Gerrard Keulemans (June 8, 1842- December 29, 1912): Lionel Walter Rothschild's Avifauna of Laysan, Plate LVIII, Public Domain, via Smithsonian Digital Collection @ https://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/nhrarebooks/rothschild/CF/page-browse-reading_plates.cfm?start=58

Kalaupapa Peninsula, northern Moloka'i: University of Hawaii-West Oahu, CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/uhwestoahu/7599710178/

R.W. Meyer: Yola Meyer Forbes, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R.W._Meyer.jpg

sugar cane crusher: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner (4nitsirk), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/4nitsirk/3777902920/

The Dole Map of the Hawaiian islands: 1950 map by Joseph Fehér (April 23, 1908-June 1987), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1950_Joseph_Feher_Dole_Map_of_Hawaii_-_Geographicus_-_Hawaii-feher-1950.jpg

Halawa Bay and Valley, northeastern Moloka'i: jongela19, CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jongela/3135839483

Native Ohia-fern forest lies at the Pu`u Ali`i Ridge above Pelekunu Valley, Pu`u Ali`i Ridge above Pelekunu Valley.: National Park Service, Public Domain, via NPS Pacific Islands Support Office @ http://www.nps.gov/pwro/piso/minkstdy/ohiafr.htm; via University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Botany @ http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/htms/MinkStdy/nscliffC.htm

illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans (June 8, 1842-December 29, 1912): Lionel Walter Rothschild, Avifauna of Laysan, Plate LXXXII, Public Domain, via Smithsonian Digital Collections @ https://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/nhrarebooks/rothschild/CF/description-search-results-all.cfm

kanawao (Broussaisia arguta): David Eickhoff (D. Eickhoff), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/5759826628/

ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha) flower and leaves: Forest and Kim Starr/US Geological Survey, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metrosideros_polymorpha.jpg

detail of USFWS Figure 3, with Abbreviated Title and Numbered Place Names caption added by Derdriu: Revised Recovery Plan (2006), p.1-16, Public Domain, via USFWS Pacific Islands Fish/Wildlife Office @ https://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plans/2006/060922a_docs/doc761.pdf

Pepe'opae Bog, Kamakou Preserve: Jeff Taylor/US Geological Survey, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pepe%27opae_Bog1.jpg

Aerial view of Moloka'i's east side: Travis.Thurston, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:East_Molokai.jpg

1899 watercolor by Frederick William Frohawk (July 16, 1861- December 10, 1946): Scott Barchard Wilson-Aves Hawaiiensis (1890-1899), Plate 20, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41338572

Waikolu Lookout, Kamakou Preserve, Molokai's North Shore: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner (4nitsirk), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/4nitsirk/3778642894/

detail of painting "Moloka'i creeper" by Sheryl Ives Boynton: US Fish/Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office @ http://www.fws.gov/pacificislands/fauna/molokaicreeper.html

kōpiko (Psychotria mariniana): Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_020925-0038_Psychotria_mariniana.jpg

Moloka'i Forest Reserve: benketaro, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/misskei/4856292796/

North Shore Cliffs from Kalawao scenic overlook in Kalaupapa National Historic Park: National Park Service, Public Domain, via NPS Pacific Islands Support Office @ http://www.nps.gov/pwro/piso/minkstdy/clfimage.htm; via University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Botany @ http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/htms/MinkStdy/nscliffC.htm

Baker, Paul E., and Helen Baker. Kākāwahie (Paroreomyza flammea) and O`ahu `Alauahio (Paroreomyza maculata). In: Alan F. Poole and Frank Gill, eds. The Birds of North America, No. 503. Philadelphia: The Birds of North America, Inc., 2000.

Banko, Winston E. History of Endemic Hawaiian Birds Specimens in Museum Collections. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 1979.

“Forest Birds: Kākāwahie or Moloka’i Creeper, Paroreomyza flammea.” Hawai’i’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, October 1, 2005. Honolulu: Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources, 2005.

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• Available at:  http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/htms/MinkStdy/nscliffC.htm

“Moloka’i Creeper (Paroreomyza flammea) Hawaiian name, Kaka-wahie.” Hawai’i Forests & Wildlife Teacher Resources. Honolulu: Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife. Updated 8/30/02.

• Available at:  http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/kids/teach/MolCreep.pdf

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• Available at:  http://www.nps.gov/pwro/piso/minkstdy/nscliffC.htm#summary

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