Environmental close-up 4; Restoring palila and other Hawaiian forest birds: understanding problems and developing solutions
- Author:
-
Banko, Paul C.
- Title:
- Environmental close-up 4; Restoring palila and other Hawaiian forest birds: understanding problems and developing solutions
- Periodical:
- Hawaii: the ecotraveller's wildlife guide
- Year:
- 2000
- Pages:
- p. 158-162
- Subject:
-
Palila
Hawaiian honeycreepers
Drepanididae
Mamane
Endangered species birds
Sophora chrysophylla
Loxioides bailleui
Birds conservation Hawaii Island
Birds ecology
Birds habitat Hawaii Island
Introduced species
- Summary:
- The Palila (Loxioides bailleui) a finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper that relies primarily on the immature seeds of the Mamane (Sophora chrysophylla) trees, provides an example of the difficulty of restoring an endemic forest bird that has suffered from human activity. Palila have become dangerously restricted to the upper slopes of Mauna Kea, where the population is increasingly concentrated on the western slope due to factors including: exposure to avian malaria and pox at the lower limits of its historical range where mosquitoes occur; predation by feral house cats and introduced rats; habitat destruction and alteration by feral cattle, sheep, goats, and introduced game animals, which eat Mamane seedlings and strip foliage from the lower branches of trees; and threats to important insect foods (such as caterpillars) by parasitic wasps and flies which were introduced to control modern agricultural pests (themselves introduced).
- Collection:
- Monographs