Birdfinding.info   Common on Maui and the Big Island, and rare on Molokai.  On Maui it can be found at Polipoli Spring, Waikamoi Preserve, and the Hosmer Grove of Haleakala National Park.  On the Big Island it is generally common and widespread, and can be found at almost all non-coastal sites, but is especially abundant in dry forests and scrub, as at Pu’u La’au and along Saddle Road.

Common Amakihi

Chlorodrepanis virens

Endemic to Hawaii, and resident on three islands: Molokai, Maui, and the Big Island.

On Maui and the Big Island it occurs in all types of wooded habitats, including wet and dry forests and brushy scrub, from sea level to over 3,000 m elevation.

On Molokai a small population occurs mainly in the eastern highlands, but has been recorded down to sea level.

Formerly also inhabited Lanai, where it was common in the 1920s but was last reported in 1976.

Identification

A small honeycreeper with a short, decurved, grayish bill that is remarkably variable in size and shape.

Some individuals have thin, delicate bills, while others seem to have much heavier bills.  Some have moderately and others deeply curved bills.

Male is yellow-olive overall with blackish lores and dark-brown or blackish in the wings and tail.

Females and immatures are pale gray, variably washed with yellowish or olive.

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, male.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; September 12, 2018.)  © Bradley Hacker

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; July 27, 2018.)  © Frank Salmon

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; October 30, 2019.)  © John Sullivan

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male, somehow appearing almost spherical.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; October 15, 2017.)  © Sharif Uddin

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; June 30, 2016.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; July 27, 2018.)  © Frank Salmon

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, male.  (Pu’u O’o Trail, Kipuka Ainahou, Big Island, Hawaii; May 8, 2008.)  © Michael Walther

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, male showing maximum yellowness.  (Mauna Loa Trail, Big Island, Hawaii; March 24, 2017.)  © Jason Van

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, male.  (Pua Akala Tract, Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Big Island, Hawaii; August 4, 2015.)  © Steven Mlodinow

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, male.  (Saddle Road, Big Island, Hawaii; March 14, 2018.)  © Dan Murphy

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; November 28, 2017.)  © Doug Cooper

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; March 22, 2020.)  © Simon Best

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; November 29, 2017.)  © Doug Cooper

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; July 1, 2019.)  © Walter Oshiro

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male with bill strongly decurved near the tip.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; November 28, 2017.)  © Doug Cooper

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male with a comparatively straight bill.  (Waikamoi Preserve, Maui, Hawaii; September 14, 2019.)  © Dan Murphy

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; October 8, 2018.)  © Stephan Lorenz

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; June 30, 2016.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u O’o Trail, Kipuka Ainahou, Big Island, Hawaii; August 2, 2015.)  © Steven Mlodinow

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; September 12, 2018.)  © Bradley Hacker

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; October 27, 2018.)  © Garrett Lau

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; July 17, 2013.)  © Michael Todd

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, female or immature.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; December 24, 2017.)  © Coleman Gaerber

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; September 12, 2018.)  © Bradley Hacker

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; February 5, 2020.)  © Kent Forward

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; February 13, 2020.)  © Graham Gerdeman

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; March 25, 2007.)  © Etienne Artigau

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Hawaii; December 10, 2019.)  © William Richards

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature with an apparently thin bill.  (Pu’u O’o Trail, Big Island, Hawaii; September 16, 2018.)  © Bradley Hacker

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, female or immature.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; December 22, 2019.)  © Henggang Cui

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; October 27, 2018.)  © Garrett Lau

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature with an apparently thick bill.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; July 20, 2018.)  © Jordan Roderick

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature with a lemon-yellow wash.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; August 11, 2017.)  © Victor Stoll

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; February 5, 2020.)  © Kent Forward

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, apparently an immature male molting into adult plumage.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; July 27, 2018.)  © Frank Salmon

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, female or immature with an apparently thin bill.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; June 30, 2016.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, female or immature.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; October 8, 2018.)  © Stephan Lorenz

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, female or immature.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; July 27, 2016.)  © Adam Dhalla

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, female or immature.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; May 19, 2012.)  © Robert Tizard

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, female or immature.  (Pu’u La’au, Big Island, Hawaii; July 17, 2013.)  © Michael Todd

Common Amakihi, C. v. virens, male in flight.  (Pu’u O’o Trail, Big Island, Hawaii; September 16, 2018.)  © Bradley Hacker

Common Amakihi, C. v. wilsoni, male in flight.  (Hosmer Grove, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii; September 12, 2019.)  © Dan Murphy

Voice.  Song is a slow, clear, liquid trill: Common calls are buzzy, nasal, churring or scolding:

Cf. Hawaii Creeper.  The Hawaii Creeper is easily confused with the much more numerous and widespread Common Amakihi.  They are approximately the same size, with roughly the same plumage patterns, general coloration, and bill shape.

Bill: Both the amakihi and the creeper have thin, decurved bills that taper to a needle-sharp tip.  They differ in details that are not always apparent, but can be useful to distinguish them.  The amakihi has a silvery-gray or blackish bill that droops at the tip, whereas the creeper has a horn-colored or dull-gray bill with a less pronounced curve near the mid-point.  The creeper’s bill averages somewhat shorter than the amakihi’s.

Facial Pattern: Both the amakihi and the creeper typically have a blackish mask.  On the amakihi, this is usually limited to the lores and a narrow area at the base of the bill, whereas the creeper’s blackish mask is typically more extensive, surrounding the eye.  The creeper often, but not always, shows a pale brow, which the amakihi typically does not.

Notes

Polytypic species consisting of two recognized subspecies, virens of the Big Island and wilsoni of Maui, Molokai, and formerly Lanai.  Some authorities recognize the subspecies as distinct forms, the “Hawaii Amakihi” and the “Maui Amakihi”, but the basis for this distinction is not self-evident—as the internal variability of each subspecies seems to swamp any potential to distinguish them from one another (except by location).

Formerly considered conspecific with Kauai and Oahu Amakihis, collectively known as either the Amakihi or the Common Amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens).  When the AOU recognized the three forms as separate species in 1995, it selected the name Hawaii Amakihi for C. virens, and this remains the formally adopted English name.  But this is inherently confusing as the modifier “Hawaii” refers to the Big Island and is usually reserved for Big Island endemics—such as the putatively distinct form C. v. virens—so it seems more apt to return to the use of Common Amakihi to refer to the widespread, multiple-island species.

References

BirdLife International. 2016. Chlorodrepanis virens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22720766A94682369. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22720766A94682369.en. (Accessed May 22, 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 22, 2020.)

Pratt, H.D. 2005. The Hawaiian Honeycreepers: Drepanidinae. Oxford University Press.

Pratt, D. 2020. Hawaii Amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens). 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/61445  (Accessed May 8, 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. Hawaii Amakihi – Chlorodrepanis virens. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Chlorodrepanis-virens. (Accessed May 22, 2020.)