Habitat
Akiki birds are primarily found in wetlands, including freshwater marshes, swamps, and rice paddies. They prefer dense vegetation, where they can hide from predators and easily navigate through the thick cover.
Behavior
These birds are generally secretive and shy, making them difficult to spot. They are more active during the early morning and late afternoon. The Akiki is known for its distinctive calls, which are often heard in the twilight hours. They primarily feed on insects, seeds, and small aquatic invertebrates.
Breeding
The breeding season typically occurs during the rainy months, when their habitat is abundant with food. The female lays a clutch of eggs in a hidden nest built among dense vegetation near water.
Diet/Feeding
The akikiki is often compared to the nuthatches of North America because it forages by hopping along the trunks and branches of both live and dead trees, picking off arthropods.Akikiki often forage in pairs, family groups, or mixed-species flocks.
ENDANGERED
An extremely steep decline was noted between 2018 and 2021 in Halehaha, one of the species' former strongholds, with the population declining from 70 to 5 individuals, leaving only 45 wild individuals overall. This decline has been blamed on climate change allowing the mosquitoes carrying avian malaria to invade higher elevations. In addition, it has been predicted that at the current decline rate, the species will likely go extinct in the wild by 2023. About 41 captive individuals exist, although only a limited amount of offspring have been produced. It is currently planned to keep a significant number of akikiki in captivity until landscape-scale control of mosquitoes using Wolbachia can be performed starting in 2024 at the earliest, after which the birds could be reintroduced to their habitat.
The akiki bird predators
