The highland finch (''Orthiospiza howarthi'') is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

member of the

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

and a

Hawaiian honeycreeper Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. They are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus ''Carpodacus'', but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great ...

which is known only from a few bones found in caves. It is the only member of the genus ''Orthiospiza''. It was endemic to the high-elevation areas (above 1000 m) of Mount

Haleakalā Haleakalā (; Hawaiian: ), or the East Maui Volcano, is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by another volcano, Mauna Kahalawai, also referred to as the West ...

on the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an island of

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

. It has been speculated that they were pushed to extinction because of habitat loss. It is known only from fossil remains and likely became extinct before the first Europeans arrived in 1778.

Description

The highland finch was long and had a large, relatively weak, bill that was suited for feeding on soft fruits, seeds, and flowers such as ‘ōhi‘a lehua blossoms. The finch is believed to have inhabited highland forest, though its fossils have also been found at lower elevations of the island.

Extinction

Because of its relatively early extinction, little is known about the species. It appears to have become extinct not long after the first

Polynesians Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sou ...

settlers who cleared some of the land for farming and

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

for which the native birds had no defence. Five hundred years before Europeans made landfall to Hawaii, the bird was probably extinct. According to fossil records, their numbers declined rapidly in the early 16th century. It has been speculated that this species' visits to lower elevations was its undoing due to contact with avian diseases and pests. Finches were once known on all of the other larger Hawaiian islands, but the highland finch seems to have outlived the Oahu finch. Today, only about sixty percent of Hawaii have not been drastically altered. Many avian diseases and parasites also pose a major threat to Hawai`i's native forest birds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5758775 Endemic fauna of Hawaii Extinct birds of Hawaii Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Holocene extinctions Fringillidae Biota of Maui Birds described in 1991 Finches Taxa named by Helen F. James