Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 40, Number 2, 1 February 2023 — Akeke'e o Alaka'i [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Akeke'e o Alaka'i

V NA MANU HOA \ ^ OUR BIRD FR I EN DS '

Akekee ( Loxops caeruleirostris)

Na Lisa Kapono Mason

Akeke'e dissecting psyllid golls on 'ōhi'o (Metrosideros polymorpho) leoves. Similor in oppeoronce to 'omokihi (Chlorodrepanis virens) but locking their distinctive hloek eye mosk ond hloek downturned bill. - Photo: Ann īanimoto Johnson/ LOHE Lah

ke akeke'e kekahi o 'elua Ē ■ mau manu mūkīkī 'ane ■ Ipau halapohe 'ino ma Kaua'i o Manokalanipō, '0 ka 'akikiki kekahi, a ke lele ahiu nei ua manu nei i ka nahele '0 Kōke'e ma ka 'ao'ao hikina o Alaka'i. He 150 mau makahiki i hala aku nei, ua 'a'a wiwo'ole ke Kuini Emma ma ia mau pali lihilihi a me ka naele kupaianaha o Kōke'e, a he huaka'i ia i kaulana ai ka nani a me ka like 'ole 0 ke ao kūlohelohe ma ia aina, a puni ka honua. He loea pe'e ua manu akeke'e nei, 'a'ole 'ike a lohe 'ia ho'i e nā kānaka kilo manu. Ma ke emi 'ana o nā manu, aia ke loli nei nā kani o ua mau manu mūkīkī Kaua'i nei i 'ano kū like kekahi me kekahi. I kapa 'ia paha ke akeke'e no ke ke'e ho'i o kona nuku, a he hana ma'amau i ia manu ka huli 'ana i ka 'ai ma nā po'o kumu lā'au. Me ke ā keke'e, me he lā'au Kepanī lā ho'i, e kaha ai ua manu nei i nā pu'u lau a nā uku kau lā'au. I loko nō o ka pilina o ke akeke'e i ka manu akepa, pūnana ka manu akepa i nā poho kumu koa, a pūnana na'e ho'i ke akeke'e i ka limu aina, a alu like ho'i ka pa'a akeke'e i ke kūkulu 'ana kā lāua pūnana iho. ■

Akeke'e is one of two critically endangered endemic honeycreepers on Kaua'i (the other being 'akikiki) and are wild only in Kōke'e's eastern Alaka'i Plateau. Over 150 years ago, Queen Emma took a daring journey across the dramatic cliffs and otherworldly bogs of Kōke'e, bringing worldwide attention to the forest's beauty and biodiversity. Akeke'e is a master of eoneealment and continues to elude, in appearance and song, some of Hawai'i's most experienced birders. As populations decline, Kaua'i's native honeycreepers are beginning to sound more like eaeh other. Named after their distinct ke'e (offset and twisted) bill, akeke'e spend mueh time foraging in the canopy and use their asymmetrical mandibles like chopsticks to pry open ohi'a buds and slice open the hardened galls of parasitic psyllid insects. Unlike their close relative, Hawai'i akepa, that nest in koa cavities, akeke'e build delicate mossy eup nests that both partners help to construct. ■