ʻAnianiau

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'Anianiau

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Drepanididae
Genus:	Hemignathus
Species:	H. parvus

Binomial name

Hemignathus parvus
(Stejneger, 1887)

Synonyms

Viridonia parva (Stejneger, 1887)

The Anianiau is a species of Hawaiian Honeycreeper that is endemic to the island of Kauai. It was once found in most of the land of Kauai until mosquitos arrived to bring forth disease. This bird species is not very capable of defending itself from diseases like Avian Malaria and Avian Pox. It was then retreating toward higher elevations. It eventually reduced itself to live in only fifteen percent of its original land. It was first discovered in the 1830s, but was not well known and was not seen again for another fifty years, it was not well studied till the 1960s. Its diet was basically arthropods and nectar which it got from looking underneath the leaf litter and in several types of flowers. It has had a breeding season between the late winter and early spring. The female will make a small cup shaped nest made of lichens in a O’hia tree. It will then lay one to two eggs inside which will hatch in about thirteen days. The small yellow chicks will leave the nest in three weeks, but while in the nest they will be feed on a mainly protein diet of caterpillars. Its call is a pair of notes, tew-weet, while its song is a triple of wee-see, wee-see, wee-see. Its major threats include diseases that are brought upon by mosquitos and alien birds. Its lowland habitat has been cut down or drastically altered. Although it still lives in high numbers, this species will require large well preserved tracts of forests.