Kakawahie
A species of 'Alauahios Scientific name : Paroreomyza flammea Genus : 'Alauahios
Kakawahie, A species of 'Alauahios
Botanical name: Paroreomyza flammea
Genus: 'Alauahios
Content
Description General Info
Description
The kākāwahie was 5.5 in (14 cm) long. This bird had the appearance of a ball of flame, especially males, which were scarlet red all around. The female had more of a brownish tinge to its belly. Its call was a chip like someone was cutting wood in the distance. They were discovered in the late 19th century when Scott Barchard Wilson, a British ornithologist was lost in the fog. Wilson had shot down a female and two bright males. He collected several specimens and skins of other species of Molokai birds and then went back to England. They were fast flitting birds but nevertheless, they were still endangered. It is depicted in several paintings from the early 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. 
General Info
Distribution Area
The kākāwahie lived in the Akoke Forests. Its stronghold in the Akoke Forests was the Kamakou Plateau, where it was seen before disappearing in 1963.
Species Status
Causes of extinction were probably similar to those of other Hawaiian forest birds. Habitat destruction, avian disease spread by introduced mosquitoes, as well as introduced predators are all likely major factors in its decline. Diseases spread by mosquitoes included avian malaria and fowlpox. These diseases caused the kākāwahie to grow ill and create lumps, which eventually caused paralysis and then death by starvation. Native Hawaiians trapped the birds for their red feathers, which were then used in the capes and leis of aliʻi (nobles and royalty). It was last sighted in montane wet forest at ʻŌhiʻalele Plateau in 1963. There were reports of this bird holding on until the 1970s. There is an extremely remote possibility that this species holds on in remote, inaccessible regions of the Olokui plateau, a region where another possibly extinct bird, the Olomaʻo is protected.
Scientific Classification
Download Picture Bird
Identify any bird by photo or sound in seconds
Identify any bird by photo or sound in seconds
