The Oahu nukupuu (''Hemignathus lucidus'') was a species of
nukupuu which was similar to its cousins from the Islands of
Kauai and
Maui. It is yellowish greyish with a long hooked beak to find insects. This bird is now extinct due to human activity.
Description
The males were mostly yellow across the belly and on the head. From the bend of the wing, the feathers were primarily olive green. Its lores and legs were black. The females and the young had similar coloration with the exception that the yellow was a dull yellow. They had a long decurved
beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...
approximately one and a half inch in length, the upper bill being twice as long as the lower.
Using their upper bill to pluck insects found underneath tree bark, the Oahu nukupuu fed on insects on flowering trees such as the
koa (''Acacia koa'') and
ohia (''Metrosideros polymorpha''). These trees attract a large amount of insects due to their nectar-filled flowers. The Oahu nukupuu fed on koa in high elevation forests and fed on ohia in low elevations.
The species was believed to have vanished as the spread of disease occurred, killing off nukupuu populations across the islands. In order to control the rat population in the sugar cane fields,
mongooses
A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to ...
were introduced to Hawaii and were suspected to be predators that stole nukupuu chicks from nests, furthering the decrease in nukupuu population.
Of the last known specimens recorded of the Oahu nukupuu, about nine specimens were collected in 1837 by naturalist
Ferdinand Deppe and ornithologist
John Kirk Townsend
John Kirk Townsend (August 10, 1809 – February 6, 1851) was an American naturalist, ornithologist and collector.
Townsend was a Quaker born in Philadelphia, the son of Charles Townsend and Priscilla Kirk. He attended Westtown School in ...
. A few more specimens were collected through 1841, and after an extensive search by ornithologist
Robert Cyril Layton Perkins
Robert Cyril Layton Perkins FRS (15 November 1866 – 29 September 1955) was a distinguished British entomologist, ornithologist, and naturalist noted for his work on the fauna of the islands of Hawaii and on Hymenoptera. He is not to be conf ...
, the Oahu nukupuu was considered extinct since at the start of the 21st century.
See also
*
Hawaiian honeycreeper conservation
References
External links
The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status” by Robert L. Pyle and Peter Pyle , Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HawaiiBirdLife Species Factsheet CR(PE) – Nukupuu Hemingnathus lucidus , BirdLife InternationalITIS Report: Hemignathus lucidus lucidus TSN 729573 , Interagency Taxonomic Information System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oahu Nukupuu
Hemignathus
Oahu
Extinct birds of Hawaii
Articles containing video clips
Species made extinct by human activities
Taxa named by Hinrich Lichtenstein