Lifespan, longevity, and ageing
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Maximum longevity: 17.8 years (wild)
Observations: Although sexually mature in their second year, these animals do not normally reproduce until a year later. Annual survival was estimated at 0.78-0.88 in healthy populations (http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/).
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- de Magalhaes, J. P.
Biology
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Elepaio are very versatile foragers, and search in every part of the forest for their preferred food: insects and spiders (3). They also use a wide variety of feeding methods to obtain their prey, including gleaning (plucking prey from the foliage or ground), and hawking (chasing after a target and catching it in its beak). They can use their feet to hold down large insects whilst they tear off the wings with their bill; and have even been observed holding large caterpillars in their bill and beating them against a branch (2). The elepaio's fondness for insects has made them the guardian spirit of canoe makers, as their presence on a tree would indicate a large insect population and therefore its unsuitability for use as a canoe (3).
Elepaio are monogamous birds that remain together all year and often mate for life (2). Together, they maintain a territory that encompasses their nest site and food resources (6). The breeding season extends from January to June, during which clutches of one to three eggs are laid. The nest, constructed by both sexes, is a finely woven cup made of a wide variety of materials including grasses, bark strips, lichen and spider's silk (2) (3), and placed in a fork or on a horizontal branch (7). Both the male and female incubate the eggs (for about 18 days) and feed the chicks (2). In a very good year the pair can raise two broods (6). The young remain on their parent's territory for up to ten months, which gives them the opportunity to develop vital foraging skills (4). The elepaio is known to live for at least 12 years (2).
Conservation
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The Oahu subspecies, C. s. ibidis, is listed as an Endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Hawaii (9), and as a result is receiving specific conservation attention, including long term population surveys, ongoing rat control, monitoring of mosquito-borne diseases, and habitat protection (4) (7). Rat control on Oahu during 1996 – 2000 led to a 112 percent increase in this subspecies reproductive success (2). The other subspecies are not the focus of any conservation actions, but measures to conserve forest bird species in areas within their range, such as the Hakalau Forest wildlife Refuge in Hawaii, and the Alaka'i Plateau in Kauai, will almost certainly benefit the elepaio (4).
Description
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The elepaio belongs to the large family of monarch flycatchers, but is the only species to successfully colonise the Hawaiian Islands naturally (3). It possesses a distinctive, long, brownish-black tail that is often cocked upright, a conspicuous white rump, white tips on the tail feathers and white spots on the wing coverts. There are five subspecies, which all differ slightly in their plumage (2). The crown and back varies from dark brown to more grey, and the white underparts have differing amounts of rufous to light brown streaks on the breast. Bristles poke from the corners of the broad, almost black, beak (2). The females are generally smaller and duller than the male (2), and it is only the male which makes the shrill whistle, el-e-pai-o, from which this species gets its name (3) (4).
Habitat
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On Hawaii, the elepaio occurs in a variety of forest habitats and across a range of elevations but most frequently occurs in closed-canopy wet forest at higher elevations (2) (4). On Oahu, S. c. ibidis is most abundant in mesic forest, generally in valleys and on slopes between 200 and 800 meters. On Kauai, S. c. sclateri is most common in dense wet to mesic forest above 1,100 meters. Most subspecies can occur at lower numbers in drier woodland, savannah and scrub habitats, and in more disturbed areas at lower elevations (2) (5).
Range
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The elepaio is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Subspecies S. c. sclateri occurs only on Kauai Island, S. c. ibidis is found on Oahu Island, and the remaining three subspecies all occur on Hawaii Island; S. c. sandwichensis in the drier areas of the west and south, S. c. bryani on the high dry slopes of the Mauna Kea, and S. c. ridgwayi is found in eastern Hawaii on wet slopes in the Hilo District (2).
Status
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Classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List 2006 (1).
Threats
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The elepaio is still fairly common on Hawaii and Kauai, but less so on Oahu (2). The Oahu subspecies was once the most common native bird on the island (8), but numbers declined drastically in the last decades of the 20th century, and it is now the most threatened subspecies. Habitat loss due to urbanization and agriculture caused range reductions in the past (2), and today the species is thought to inhabit less than four percent of its original range (8). More recent population declines are due to diseases carried by introduced mosquitoes, and nocturnal nest predation by introduced black rats (Rattus rattus) (2). It is probable that the other elepaio subspecies are also threatened by disease and nest predation, and whilst habitat loss is likely to be impacting all populations to some degree, the elepaio may be less affected by human disturbance than other Hawaiian native birds due to their generalised habitat requirements, ability to survive in disturbed forest with introduced vegetation, and flexible foraging strategies (2)
Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio
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The Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis), also Hawaiian ʻelepaio, is a monarch flycatcher found on the Big Island of Hawaii. Until 2010, all three ʻelepaio species, the Kauaʻi ʻelepaio (Chasiempis sclateri), the Oʻahu ʻelepaio (Chasiempis ibidis) and this species were considered conspecific.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus Muscicapa and coined the binomial name Muscicapa sandwichensis.[2][3] Gmelin based his description on the "sandwich flycatcher" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a specimen from the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands) in the collection of the naturalist Joseph Banks.[4] The specimen would have been collected between 17 January and 22 February 1779 near Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawaii during James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean.[5] The Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio is now placed in the genus Chasiempis that was introduced in 1847 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. The species was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Kauaʻi ʻelepaio (Chasiempis sclateri) and the Oʻahu ʻelepaio (Chasiempis ibidis).[6] The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek khaskō meaning "to gape" and empis meaning "mosquito" or "gnat".[7]
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognised which differ in their ecological requirements and head coloration (see also Gloger's Rule):[6][8]
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C. s. sandwichensis - (Gmelin, 1789): The Kona ʻelepaio. It differs from the volcano subspecies by having the forehead and the supercilium whitish with some rusty feathers. It inhabits mesic forest characterized by koa (Acacia koa) and ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha); its population seems to be stable at about 60,000–65,000.
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C. s. ridgwayi - Stejneger, 1887: The volcano ʻelepaio. Originally described as a separate species. This is the most common subspecies today, with a population of around 100,000–150,000, or more than half of the total number of ʻelepaio. It is a bird of the rainforest, which on Hawaiʻi are characterized by ʻōhiʻa lehua and hāpuʻu (Cibotium tree ferns).
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C. s. bryani - Pratt, 1979: The Mauna Kea ʻelepaio. It is only found in the māmane (Sophora chrysophylla ) – naio (Myoporum sandwicense) dry forest on the leeward slopes of Mauna Kea. It has the entire head heavily washed with white. Due to destruction of most of its habitat, it is the rarest Big Island subspecies, with a population of 2,000–2,500 birds.
References
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^ BirdLife International (2016). "Chasiempis sandwichensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22736440A95134209. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22736440A95134209.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
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^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 945.
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^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 492.
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^ Latham, John (1783). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 2, Part 1. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 344 No. 41.
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^ Stresemann, Erwin (1950). "Birds collected during Capt. James Cook's last expedition (1776-1780)" (PDF). Auk. 67 (1): 66-88 [80]. JSTOR 4080770.
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^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Monarchs". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
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^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
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^ Pratt, H.D. (1980). "Intra-island Variation in the ʻElepaio on the Island of Hawaiʻi" (PDF). Condor. 82 (4): 449–458. doi:10.2307/1367572. JSTOR 1367572.
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Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio: Brief Summary
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The Hawaiʻi ʻelepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis), also Hawaiian ʻelepaio, is a monarch flycatcher found on the Big Island of Hawaii. Until 2010, all three ʻelepaio species, the Kauaʻi ʻelepaio (Chasiempis sclateri), the Oʻahu ʻelepaio (Chasiempis ibidis) and this species were considered conspecific.
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