Kaua'i Nukupu'u, 2022
mixed media on paper with metallic accents
5.125" x 7"
$97 including US shipping
From the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposal for removing 23 species from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants due to extinction:
The Maui nukupuu was known only from the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. The historical record provides little information on the life history of the Maui nukupuu (Rothschild 1893 to 1900, pp. 103-104; Perkins 1903, pp. 426-430). Nothing is known of its breeding biology, which likely was similar to its closest relative, the akiapolaau (
Hemignathus munroi
) on Hawaii Island. The Maui nukupuu was insectivorous and probed bark, lichen, and branches to extract insects, foraging behaviors that resembled those of akiapolaau. Diet of the Maui nukupuu was reported to be small weevils and larvae of orders Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Perkins 1903, p. 429). There is scant evidence that Maui nukupuu took nectar from flowers. Maui nukupuu often joined mixed-species foraging flocks
The Maui nukupuu was a medium-sized (approximately 0.78 ounce, or 23 gram) Hawaiian honeycreeper with an extraordinarily thin, curved bill that was slightly longer than the bird's head. The lower mandible was half the length of the upper mandible and followed its curvature rather than being straight (as in the related akiapolaau) (USFWS 2006, p. 2-92). Adult males were olive green with a yellow head, throat, and breast, whereas adult females and juveniles had an olive-green head and yellow or yellowish gray under-parts. The species' coloration and bill shape were quite distinctive, making visual identification of Maui nukupuu relatively easy. The Maui nukupuu's song resembled the warble of a house finch (
Carpodacus mexicanus
), but was lower in pitch. Both the song and the “kee-wit” call resembled those of Maui parrotbill (
Pseudonestor xanthophrys
), and audio detection required visual confirmation.