Birdfinding.info ⇒ The Oahu Nukupu’u is known mainly from a set of specimens collected in the Nu’uanu Valley from January 11 to 15, 1837. Two additional specimens were collected between 1838 and 1841, and residents of the area reported that the species continued to be seen there until around 1860.
Oahu Nukupu’u †
Hemignathus lucidus
Extinct. Formerly endemic to Oahu.
Identification
A stout, short-tailed honeycreeper with a long, decurved bill, the upper mandible about twice as long as the lower.
The male had mostly olive upperparts, including the crown, and mostly yellow underparts, including the face.
Females and immatures were duller olive above and whiter below than the male.
Compared to the nukupu’us of Kauai and Maui, the Oahu Nukupu’u’s bill was slightly longer and the male had more extensive olive—less yellow—on the head.
Oahu Nukupu’u, male and female. Frederick Frohawk, 1899
Oahu Nukupu’u, male, ventral view. (Specimen ID: RMNH.AVES.110010.) © Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Oahu Nukupu’u, male, side view. (Specimen ID: RMNH.AVES.110010.) © Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Oahu Nukupu’u, male, dorsal view. (Specimen ID: RMNH.AVES.110010.) © Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Notes
Monotypic species. Formerly considered conspecific with Kauai and Maui Nukupu’us, known collectively as the Nukupu’u (Hemignathus lucidus).
References
BirdLife International. 2017. Hemignathus lucidus (amended version of 2016 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T103823595A117233588. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T103823595A117233588.en. (Accessed May 20, 2020.)
Hume, J.P. 2017. Extinct Birds (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London.
Pratt, H.D. 2005. The Hawaiian Honeycreepers: Drepanidinae. Oxford University Press.
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.