Nihoa Millerbird

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nihoa Millerbird

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Acrocephalus
Species: A. familiaris
Subspecies: A. f. kingi
Trinomial name
Acrocephalus familiaris kingi
(Wetmore, 1923)

The Nihoa Millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris kingi) is a subspecies of the Millerbird. It is limited to and one of the two endemic birds of the tiny island of Nihoa in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The other endemic bird is the Nihoa Finch. It gets its name from its preferred food, the miller moth. The five-inch long bird has dark, sepia-colored feathers, white belly, and dark beak.

Only 200 - 900 birds remain, making this bird seriously endangered. It is always at risk of extinction from environmental changes, as it cannot fly away from the island. The Laysan Millerbird, now extinct, was closely related.[1]

The trinomial commemorates Samuel Wilder King, captain of the Tanager Expedition and later Governor of Hawaii.

[edit] References