Birdfinding.info ⇒ Locally common in Koke’e State Park and above, where it can usually be found around the Pu’u O Kila overlook and along the main trails, including the Pihea, Alakai Swamp, and Mohihi-Waiale.
Anianiau
Magumma parva
Endemic to Kauai, where it inhabits wet montane forests, mainly in the northwestern portion of the island.
Formerly occurred in forests at all elevations throughout Kauai, but it has generally retreated to areas above 600 m elevation, including a small, isolated population in the northeast on Mount Makaleha (at least into the 1970s).
Along the Napali coast, it has occurred near sea level at least occasionally in recent decades, which seems to indicate some degree of resistance to the avian malaria or other diseases that have eliminated most native Hawaiian songbirds from lower elevations.
Since the 1970s, estimates of the total population have fluctuated between 24,000 (in 1973) and 37,500 (in 2007).
Identification
A small honeycreeper with pinkish legs and a short, decurved, sharp-tipped, pinkish bill.
Male is almost entirely golden-yellow, but darker and more olive on the wings and tail, with white on the belly and undertail coverts.
Females and immatures are mostly whitish below and pale grayish-olive above, variably washed with yellow on the head and breast.
Anianiau, male. (Mohihi-Waiale Trail, Kauai, Hawaii; October 15, 2018.) © Stephan Lorenz
Anianiau, male, showing darker, more olive-toned wings. (Mohihi-Waiale Trail, Kauai, Hawaii; October 15, 2018.) © Stephan Lorenz
Anianiau, male. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; March 30, 2018.) © Jim Denny
Anianiau, male. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; November 23, 2015.) © Dubi Shapiro
Anianiau, male, showing darker, more olive-toned wings. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; October 10, 2005.) © Jim Denny
Anianiau, male, showing pink legs and bill. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; March 29, 2012.) © Jim Denny
Anianiau, male. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; April 16, 2019.) © Lizabeth Southworth
Anianiau. (Pu’u O Kila, Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; March 5, 2018.) © Jim Denny
Anianiau, male. (Mohihi Ridge, Alaka’i Wilderness Preserve, Kauai, Hawaii; October 13, 2019.) © Bret Mossman
Anianiau, male. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; April 12, 2014.) © Jim Denny
Anianiau, male. (Alaka’i Wilderness Preserve, Kauai, Hawaii; March 13, 2015.) © Patrick J. Blake
Anianiau, male. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; October 7, 2005.) © Jim Denny
Anianiau, male, showing white on belly and undertail coverts. (Alakai Swamp Trail, Kauai, Hawaii; February 6, 2015.) © Jordan Roderick
Anianiau, female. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; March 26, 2018.) © Russ Morgan
Anianiau, female. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; June 13, 2018.) © Andrew Birch
Anianiau, female. (Koke’e State Park, Kauai, Hawaii; June 13, 2018.) © Andrew Birch
Anianiau, female. (Pihea Trail, Kauai, Hawaii; February 17, 2020.) © Daniele Mitchell
Anianiau, female. (Pihea Trail, Kauai, Hawaii; September 3, 2007.) © Michael Walther
Anianiau, female. (Pihea Trail, Kauai, Hawaii; April 27, 2018.) © John O’Brien
Notes
Monotypic species.
IUCN Red List Status: Vulnerable.
References
BirdLife International. 2016. Magumma parva. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22720774A94682556. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22720774A94682556.en. (Accessed May 15, 2020.)
eBird. 2020. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed May 15, 2020.)
Pratt, H.D. 2005. The Hawaiian Honeycreepers: Drepanidinae. Oxford University Press.
Pratt, H.D. 2020. Anianiau (Magumma parva). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/61438. (Accessed May 9, 2020.)
Pyle, R.L., and P. Pyle. 2017. The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status. Version 2 (January 1, 2017). http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph/. B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Xeno-Canto. 2020. Anianiau – Magumma parva. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Magumma-parva. (Accessed May 15, 2020.)