Facing
extinction due in large part to the effects of climate change, the ‘i’iwi — a
scarlet honeycreeper only found in Hawaii — will receive federal protection as
a threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced
Tuesday.
Once
common from mauka to makai throughout the islands, the small red bird is now
found almost exclusively in high-elevation forests on Maui and the Big Island.
The population on Kauai has plummeted 92 percent over the past 25 years and the
bird is almost completely gone from Lanai, Oahu and Molokai.
Lost
habitat and mosquitoes carrying avian diseases and malaria are to blame. The
‘i’iwi are no longer in places that mosquitoes thrive, which is why they have
found refuge in koa and ohia forests above 3,600 feet.
But as
the planet warms, the mosquitoes’ range increases, further constricting the
space available for the ‘i’iwi.
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