List of Birds of Hawaii - Monarch Flycatchers

Monarch Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Monarchidae

The Monarchinae are a relatively recent grouping of a number of seemingly very different birds, mostly from the southern hemisphere, which are more closely related than they at first appear. Many of the approximately 140 species making up the family were previously assigned to other groups, largely on the basis of general morphology or behaviour. With the new insights generated by the DNA-DNA hybridisation studies of Sibley and his co-workers toward the end of the 20th century, however, it became clear that these apparently unrelated birds were all descended from a common ancestor. The Monarchinae are small to medium-sized insectivorous passerines, many of which hunt by flycatching. The AOU split the complex into 3 separate species in 2010. All are endemic to Hawaii.

• Kauai Elepaio, Chasiempis sclateri (*)
• Oahu Elepaio, Chasiempis ibidis (*)
• Hawaii Elepaio, Chasiempis sandwichensis (*)