Habitat
Hawaii Akepa inhabit wet and moderately wet mountain forests on the island of Hawaii between 1,100 and 2,100 meters (3,600–6,900 feet) elevation. They are most common in old-growth forests with large ohia or koa trees, but they also occur in high numbers in some disturbed forests and woodlands.
Back to topFood
Hawaii Akepa feed primarily on spiders and caterpillars. They forage on koa leaves and seedpods and the outermost leaf clusters of ohia trees. There they use their specialized bill, with the lower mandible curved to one side, to pry open flower and leaf buds, like the way crossbills open pine cones.
Back to topNesting
Nest Placement
Placed in naturally formed cavities of large old-growth ohia and koa trees, typically in knotholes or rotted bases of broken branches.
Nest Description
A cup made of fine ohia rootlets, small twigs, lichens, bark strips, ferns, mosses and other bryophytes, grass and sedge leaves, and introduced pine needles.
Nesting Facts
| Egg Description: | Dull white with brown and blackish blotches heavily concentrated at the wide end. |
Behavior
Hawaii Akepa are restless birds that call frequently while foraging. They are socially monogamous and form long-term pair bonds. Males perform group displays reminiscent of leks. These displays include several males singing and making bouncing hops in the canopy of a tree or chasing each other in twisting flight as high as 100 meters (330 feet) above the ground. The female builds the nest alone, but both sexes feed the young. Hawaii Akepa occur alone or in pairs for much of the year, but after the breeding season, they form flocks of up to 40 individuals based around family groups. These Hawaii Akepa flocks then form the core of mixed species flocks with Hawaii Creeper, Hawaii Amakihi, and Akiapolaau between June and October.
Back to topConservation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Hawaii Akepa's conservation status as Endangered and estimates its global population at 10,800 mature individuals. This conservation assessment is based on Hawaii Akepa’s very small and contracting range (10% of its former range), a declining population trend, and high susceptibility to avian malaria, which has been expanding upslope due to climate change.
Back to topCredits
BirdLife International. 2023. Loxops coccineus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T103823991A220920210. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T103823991A220920210.en.
Floyd, Ted (2025). Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canada. Eighth edition. National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.
Lepson, J. K. and L. A. Freed (2020). Hawaii Akepa (Loxops coccineus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.akepa1.01
Pratt, H.D., Bruner, P.L. and Berrett, D.G. (1987). A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
Raine, H. and A. F. Raine (2020). American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Hawai'i. Scott & Nix, Inc. New York, NY, USA.