Hawaiian honeycreeper

Common card · No. 355588

Hawaiʻian honeycreepers are a group of small birds endemic to Hawaiʻi. They are members of the finch family Fringillidae, closely related to the rosefinches (Carpodacus), but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch, such as greatly elongated and curved bills. Their great morphological diversity is the result of adaptive radiation following ecological release in an insular environment. Over 60 species are thought to have existed prior to the human colonisation of Hawaii. Only 17 species are confirmed to be alive today. Many have been driven to extinction since the first humans arrived in Hawaiʻi, with extinctions increasing over the last two centuries following European discovery of the islands, with habitat destruction and especially invasive species being the main causes.

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