This article is one of a series providing information about endemism among birds in the World's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see Endemism in birds.
There are 71 known taxa of endemic Hawaiian birds, of which 23 are extinct and 30 of the remaining 48 species and subspecies are listed as endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Habitat loss and avian disease are thought to have had the greatest effect on endemic bird species in Hawaii.
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“Even Lust the Master of a hardned Face,
Blushes if thou beest in the place,
To darkness’ Curtains he retires,
In Sympathizing Night he rowls his smoaky Fires.
When, Goddess, thou liftst up thy wakened Head,
Out of the Mornings purple bed,
Thy Quire of Birds about thee play,
And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.”
—Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
“Life is in the mouth; death is in the mouth.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 60, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)