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‘Ākohekohe
These critically endangered birds are only found on Maui Island.
© Araks Ohanyan
Sporting a fancy tuft of feathers on its forehead and a bright orange nape, Maui island’s ‘ākohekohe is one Hawaiʻi’s strikingly beautiful native forest birds. ‘ākohekohe are also critically endangered. Habitat loss and disease from invasive mosquitoes are major threats to their survival.
BirdNote®
‘Ākohekohe
Written by Jessie Eden
This is BirdNote.
The critically endangered ʻākohekohe, or Crested Honeycreeper, is one of Hawaiʻi’s most striking native songbirds.
[ʻākohekohe song]
‘Ākohekohe are endemic to the island of Maui, meaning they exist nowhere else on earth. Slightly smaller than a robin, ʻākohekohe are uniformly dark with silver flecks on their face and upper breast, and patches of bright orange around their eyes and nape. They also sport a fancy little tuft of white feathers on their foreheads.
‘Ākohekohe primarily feed on nectar from the pom-pom-shaped flowers of the ‘ōhi‘a tree. With their exceptionally long legs, they dash through the treetops, performing acrobatic twists and splits to poke their heads into the fiery red ‘ōhi‘a blossoms. Along the way, their fluffy crests collect pollen like a feather duster, making ʻākohekohe important forest pollinators.
[ʻākohekohe song]
But habitat destruction, invasive mosquitoes and avian malaria have endangered these special birds. Today, the only remaining ʻākohekohe survive in a sliver of high-elevation forest on Maui’s eastern slopes where mosquitoes are more scarce — at least for now.
As climate change intensifies existing threats to Hawaiʻi’s native birds, conservation organizations like the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project are working hard to ensure that ʻākohekohe have a future in their remote island home.
[ʻākohekohe song]
For BirdNote, I’m Mark Bramhill.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2026 BirdNote January 2026
Narrator: Mark Bramhill
ID# AKOH-01-2026-01-22 AKOH-01
Editor’s Note:
Out of respect for Hawaiian language and culture, we've included diacritical marks and capitalization conventions of ʻolelo Hawaiʻi. Hawaiian language convention does not capitalize bird names.
Jessie Eden
Writer