Orange Birds in Hawaii

Above 4,300 feet on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea, in the ohia canopy that threads through Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, a scarlet bird the size of a starling swings onto a blossom and prises out nectar with a bill shaped like a crescent moon. It is not red the way a Northern Cardinal is red. It is vermilion - closer to a burning coal than a stop sign - and it has a name that sounds like the note it sings: Iiwi.

The Iiwi (Drepanis coccinea) is the reason most serious birders travel to Hawaii. But the Iiwi’s story is also a useful frame for understanding every orange bird in these islands, native or introduced, because the dividing line between them is not colour. It is altitude.

The altitude problem

Avian malaria arrived in Hawaii via introduced Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, probably in the 19th century. Native honeycreepers had no evolutionary exposure to Plasmodium relictum. Cornell’s All About Birds reports that avian malaria kills around 94% of all Iiwi that contract it - leading to annual population declines of 16 to 20% in adults and 55 to 73% in juveniles. The birds survive by living above the mosquitoes, which thin out above roughly 1,300 meters (4,300 feet). Cornell’s current range data shows nearly the entire Iiwi population confined to mountain forest on Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai between 4,300 and 6,200 feet. The IUCN estimates 250,000 to 500,000 mature individuals remain, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species as Threatened in September 2017.

The problem is that the mosquito line is not fixed. Climate change is pushing Culex upslope. The mountain does not get taller.

The Iiwi is not running out of forest. It is running out of mountain.

Native orange birds

Apapane (Himatione sanguinea)

The Apapane is the most common native Hawaiian honeycreeper. Cornell’s All About Birds places its population at 700,000 to 1.1 million mature individuals - Least Concern on the IUCN Red List - making it the most stable native forest bird in the islands by a significant margin. The National Park Service’s description of the bird at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is precise: “bright crimson plumage, black wings and tail, prominent white undertail-coverts and abdomen, and long, decurved bill.” The white belly is the quickest way to separate it from an Iiwi at a distance.

Cornell notes it breeds on wet mountain slopes receiving up to 70 to 100 centimeters of rain annually and is present on all major islands, though most common on Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island. It is the orange bird most visitors to a high-elevation native forest will actually see.

Iiwi (Drepanis coccinea)

Historically the Iiwi ranged from sea level to the highest forests on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, Molokai, and Lanai. That range is now fractional. Hakalau Forest NWR on the Big Island - 32,700 acres of montane rainforest established by USFWS in 1985 - is one of the most reliable sites. Haleakala National Park on east Maui is another, as are the upper ohia forests above Waimea Canyon on Kauai. The elevation floor matters: arriving at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s lower visitor areas and expecting to see Iiwi is like looking for a bird in the wrong country.

Hawaii Akepa (Loxops coccineus)

The Akepa is the least-known of the orange native birds, and worth knowing. Cornell’s All About Birds lists the male as a small, entirely orange bird - and notes that males require three years to acquire that breeding plumage from juvenile grey-green. It is Endangered, with the IUCN estimating around 10,800 mature individuals. Cornell places its range in wet mountain forests on the Big Island between 1,100 and 2,100 meters (3,600 to 6,900 feet). It is the only Hawaiian honeycreeper that nests exclusively in tree cavities, which makes it dependent on old-growth koa and ohia - Hakalau Forest NWR is the most reliable place to find it.

Akohekohe (Palmeria dolei)

The Akohekohe is in a different category from the rest. The NPS puts its total wild population at fewer than 2,000 individuals, all confined to high-elevation east Maui. It is a primarily black bird with a distinctive orange-white crest. What makes it notable at a flower is behavior as much as colour: the NPS notes it is the dominant species among Maui’s honeycreepers, sometimes driving Iiwi off ohia blossoms outright. Its confinement to a single island - and a narrow elevational band on that island - means the stakes of each breeding season are unusually high.

Introduced birds

At sea level and in the lowlands, the dominant orange-headed bird is an import. The Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata), introduced from South America, is now widespread across parks, resorts, and suburban yards on Kauai, Oahu, and Maui. Cornell’s All About Birds notes it favors semiopen areas with shrubs and scattered trees, often near water - the kind of habitat at Kapiolani Park in Honolulu or along the Hanalei River on Kauai. Its brilliant scarlet-orange head and crest on a white-and-grey body makes it easy to notice. It is unrelated to the Northern Cardinal despite the similar head pattern.

The Northern Cardinal is also established across all the main islands, as is the House Finch, whose orange-red-headed males are familiar to anyone who has spent time with the orange birds of Michigan or Ohio. Neither introduced species is a direct competitor to the native honeycreepers. The ecological problem is more structural: introduced birds tolerate avian malaria, sustain the parasite reservoir, and keep the mosquito threat viable at lower elevations.

Where to look

Location	Reliable orange species	Elevation
Hakalau Forest NWR, Big Island	Iiwi, Apapane, Akepa	4,000 - 6,500 ft
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park	Apapane, Iiwi	3,500 ft and above
Haleakala NP, east Maui	Iiwi, Akohekohe	5,500 ft and above
Waimea Canyon trail, Kauai	Iiwi, Apapane	High trail sections
Kapiolani Park, Honolulu	Red-crested Cardinal	Sea level

What is being done

The conservation effort attracting the most current attention is the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT). It works by releasing male mosquitoes carrying a strain of Wolbachia bacteria incompatible with the wild female population - when the females mate with these males, their eggs fail to hatch. Haleakala National Park and its partners launched large-scale IIT releases beginning in November 2023, dropping mosquito capsules by drone and helicopter across 64,666 acres of east Maui. The NPS notes that fewer than 200 Kiwikiu (Maui Parrotbill) remain, and that without intervention, some species face extinction in years, not decades. The incompatible insect work is the most promising tool currently in the field.

The contrast with the orange birds of Illinois or Arizona is not just a matter of rarity. A displaced Oriole can find a new grove. The Iiwi at 6,000 feet on Haleakala is in the last place that is still safe for it. The mosquitoes are below, and rising. The Akohekohe does not have a backup island. When this moment in conservation history is written, the question will be whether the drones arrived in time.