The wahi grosbeak or Oahu grosbeak (''Chloridops wahi'') is a

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

species of Hawaiian honeycreeper. The wahi grosbeak was endemic to dry forests on the Hawaiian islands of

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

, Oahu, and

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 ...

. Based on the thickness of its bill it fed on seeds easier to crack than those of the naio ('' Myoporum sandwicense''), on which the Kona grosbeak fed. The species was already

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 ...

when Europeans landed on the island. Being only known from fossils, its behavior and the exact reasons for its extinction are essentially unknown. Its fossils have been found throughout the islands, but were present in higher concentrations in caves. The bird was smaller than the related

King Kong grosbeak The King Kong grosbeak or giant grosbeak (''Chloridops regiskongi'') is a prehistoric species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, that was endemic to Hawaii. It had the largest beak of the three ''Chloridops'' species known to have existed. The King Kong g ...

(''C. regiskongi'') by . It had a total length of .James, Helen F., & Olson, Storrs L. (1991). Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part II. Passeriformes.Ornithological Monographs 46. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington D.C.

References

Chloridops Endemic fauna of Hawaii Extinct birds of Hawaii Hawaiian honeycreepers Biota of Kauai Biota of Maui Biota of Oahu Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Quaternary birds of Oceania Fossil taxa described in 1991 Holocene extinctions {{Paleo-bird-stub