Lanai Alauahio
Encyclopedia
The Lana'i 'Alauahio was a small yellowish finch
that was four and a quarter inches long. It was found on much of Lanai
’s land. It apparently was common until the early 1900s when there appeared to have been a steep decline in birds on the island. It was similar to the Maui Nui Alauahio and say that this species acted the same if not similar to its existing relative. This bird disappeared along with many like the Lanai Hook bill which had disappeared earlier.
The species was suffering the same fates as others on Lanai, habitat degradation. Apparently the many forest plants of Lanai had become displaced, rare or even extinct. Along with this came the major spike of alien plants from Europe and other major continents. Above all may have been the destruction of central island forest for the construction of the island’s only city, Lanai City. On the island, people had already been living on the island, these people too have cut down much of the forests for farming and settlement. This bird had become rare because of its need of endemic plants to survive. It was apparent however that this species did start to coexist with introduced plants but the strain from that had been too much and the population dropped even more.
Though not much of its life is not known, its song along with a few other facts had been learned about this species. Its song was a simple chip that was sung at an interval of one chip every three seconds. It disappeared in the year of 1937, the same year as the [[ʻUla-ʻai-Hawane]] which disappeared on Hawaii.
Finch
The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...
that was four and a quarter inches long. It was found on much of Lanai
Lanai
Lānai or Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation. The only town is Lānai City, a small settlement....
’s land. It apparently was common until the early 1900s when there appeared to have been a steep decline in birds on the island. It was similar to the Maui Nui Alauahio and say that this species acted the same if not similar to its existing relative. This bird disappeared along with many like the Lanai Hook bill which had disappeared earlier.
The species was suffering the same fates as others on Lanai, habitat degradation. Apparently the many forest plants of Lanai had become displaced, rare or even extinct. Along with this came the major spike of alien plants from Europe and other major continents. Above all may have been the destruction of central island forest for the construction of the island’s only city, Lanai City. On the island, people had already been living on the island, these people too have cut down much of the forests for farming and settlement. This bird had become rare because of its need of endemic plants to survive. It was apparent however that this species did start to coexist with introduced plants but the strain from that had been too much and the population dropped even more.
Though not much of its life is not known, its song along with a few other facts had been learned about this species. Its song was a simple chip that was sung at an interval of one chip every three seconds. It disappeared in the year of 1937, the same year as the [[ʻUla-ʻai-Hawane]] which disappeared on Hawaii.