Distribution and abundance patterns of the palila on Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Author:

Van Riper, Charles III, Scott, J. Michael, Woodside, David M.

Title:

Distribution and abundance patterns of the palila on Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Periodical:

Auk

Year:

1978

Volume:

95

Pages:

518-527

Subject:

Palila Psittirostra bailleui Birds populations Birds habitat Mamane

Summary:

Considered rare and endangered, the Palila (Psittirostra bailleui), is a finch-billed member of the endemic Hawaiian honeycreeper family Drepanididae whose range of habitat once included the mamane (Sophora chrysophylla) and the mamane-naio (Myoporum sandwicense) ecosystems of Mauna Kea, Hualalai, and the southwestern slope of Mauna Loa. However, while the Mamane fruit is the primary food source of the Palila, there were no records of this bird occurring in the mamane forest located on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa. Once apparently limited to the upper forest regions located between the 1220 to 1830 meter elevations on Hualalai and reported as being confined to the upland districts of Hualalai and Mauna Kea, this bird was also locally common between the 2360 and 2530 meter elevation on the western and northeastern slope of Mauna Kea. However, despite a wide distribution in the past, the palila range has greatly reduced since the turn of the 19th century and current information indicated that the Palila was found only in parts of the mamane and naio ecosystems of Mauna Kea in the late 1970s. As a result, censuses of the known geographical range of the Palila were conducted during the nonbreeding season of January and the breeding season of September, 1975 in an effort to document the distribution and abundance of this species.

Label:

Birds - Palila

URL:

https://sora.unm.edu/node/23172

Date:

1978

Collection:

Periodicals