Habitat
Kauai Amakihi inhabit higher-elevation native forest with ohia and koa trees.
Back to topFood
Kauai Amakihi feed on adult and larval insects, picking them from surfaces or prying hidden prey from crevices. They also take nectar and eat fruit. Kauai Amakihi often forage on the trunks and limbs of large trees and also search for food among leaves and flowers. They sip nectar either by inserting their bill into flowers, or by piercing longer flowers at their base to sip the nectar as it leaks out. (This technique is known as "robbing" nectar since there is no pollen transferred with this method.)
Back to topNesting
Nest Placement
Placed in nonblooming ohia tree, either in the outer part of the crown or in clusters of branches on limbs or along the main trunk.
Nest Description
An open cup built with roots, twigs, bark, leaves, mosses, and lichens and lined with shredded leaves and bark fibers.
Nesting Facts
| Egg Description: | Whitish with irregular brownish markings concentrated on the wide end. |
Behavior
Kauai Amakihi are energetic, acrobatic birds, moving frequently and often hanging upside down to search for hidden insects. Their breeding behavior is likely similar to Hawaii Amakihi, in which pairs are monogamous and remain together in successive breeding seasons. Both male and female Kauai Amakihi participate in nest building, but the female takes a more active role while the male sings nearby. Only the female incubates the eggs and broods the young, but both sexes feed the nestlings.
Back to topConservation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Kauai Amakihi's conservation status as Endangered due to a very small and contracting range, a small population size (estimated at 2,200–4,400 mature individuals), and a population decline that has exceeded 60% over 10 years. The IUCN assessment also notes Kauai Amakihi’s high susceptibility to avian malaria, which has been expanding upslope due to climate change. Unlike the closely related Hawaii and Oahu Amakihis, Kauai Amakihi does not appear to have developed resistance to avian malaria.
Back to topCredits
BirdLife International. 2023. Chlorodrepanis stejnegeri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T22720756A223174818. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T22720756A223174818.en.
Floyd, T. (2025). Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canada. Eighth edition. National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.
Lindsey, G. D., E. A. VanderWerf, H. Baker, and P. E. Baker (2020). Kauai Amakihi (Chlorodrepanis stejnegeri), 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.kauama.01
Pratt, H. D., P. L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett (1987). A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Raine, H. and A. F. Raine (2020). American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Hawai'i. Scott & Nix, Inc. New York, NY, USA.
Stokes, L. Q. and M. A. Young (2024). The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada. Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY, USA.