These beautiful birds were not easy to track down. They were once common across the Hawaiian islands but now they only live in high altitude native Forrests on the big island
and in Hosmer’s Grove, a forested area near the summit of the Haleakala volcano in Maui. Their numbers are dwindling and are endangered due to predation by
rats and cats but also mainly from avian malaria which has spread in the lowlands where they encounter mosquitoes. By living at high altitudes they can avoid the malaria carrying mosquitoes.

They are a type of honeycreeper which uses their curved bill to feed from the nectar of flowering trees.
The I’iwi appears consistently in Hawaiian folklore and chants, and hundreds of thousands of its feathers were used to create featherwork items and clothing for Hawaiian royalty.

Part of the gallery: Birds of Maui