Omao (bird)

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ʻŌmaʻo

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Turdidae
Genus:	Myadestes
Species:	M. obscurus

Binomial name

Myadestes obscurus
(J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

The Omao or the Hawaiian Thrush is a endemic species of robin-like bird that lives in Hawaii. It was discovered in 1789 by Gmelin. It lives only in th Eastern and Southeastern regions of the Big Island, where it thrives. There is a suppose 170,000 birds, making it the most common of the Hawaiian Thrushes. It appears to have a stable population, as the number of individuals in 1980 was about 165,000 birds. It is only found in about 1,755 kilometers of land on Hawaii, and some of these areas only have one or a few individuals left.

It is a large eight inch long bird that appears to be quite chubby. The Hawaiian Thrush is colored in many different patterns. The more common form is a bird that has a bluish belly and a white bottom. The top of the is a brow color, sometimes appearing black. It head is also brown but mixes with the blue feathers that stretch from the bell to the head. Omao also have a green color on their wings and some yellow; Their legs are a black color. The juveniles, is not like this, the young are black, and speckled with yellow, white or cream colored feathers.

The Hawaiian Thrush have a wide diet, which include the Ie’Ie flower, snails, berries, fruits and insects. It does not prefer to eat insects however, many do like to eat caterpillars and spiders. It has been known to migrate from one area to another following the outbreaks of caterpillars. Once it arrives to the area of infestation, the birds will go to larger trees and began to glean the trees and snack on anything that they find. The trees that they prefer to glean are koa and kawau. The bird can also hunt for the insects right from the air and catch them as it glides. The Omao eat, in small amounts land snails, which are found in the top of native trees. The majority of its diet is made up of fruits and berries. Its favorites include the Kopiko, Kawau, Ie’Ie, Mamaki, Olopua, and five species of Pilo.

The bird has a song that is a set of jerky liquid notes,” whip-per-weeo-whip-per-weet”. The Omao has breeding season and makes a small nest twenty-five feet in the air an lays one to three bluish eggs inside. The Hawaiian Thrushes many calls include a cat-like rasp, a frog like croak and even a high pitched police whistle.

The Omao or Myadestes obscurus once had lived on most of the land of Hawaii. Today though it is now restricted to the Southern and Eastern slopes of the island, mostly above 1,000 meters above sea level. It also exists only in 25 to 30 percent of its ancestral habitat. There are three populations remaining on Hawaii. The first one lies in the southern forests. The next one was separate from the southern population by the deforested Kapapala Tract. The last population is centered around Mauna Kea, from 2,000 feet and up. It prefers to live in old wet rainforests. The Omao, also live or wait in gullies and valleys to wait out large storms. It also goes down to lower elevation areas to grasslands in rare cases, especially in Koa and O’hia areas. In lower elevations, it appears to be gaining a natural resistance to the Avian Disease, that was brought by mosquitos in the early years. The Hawaiian Thrush avoids areas that have the Banana Poka Vine growing in them. The Banana Poka Vine out places the native Ie’Ie vine causing one of the Hawaiian Thrushes main foods to vanish. There are many threats to this species, one of the biggest is habitat destruction. Man has cut down much of the Omao forest lands, causing the species to lose much of range. Many areas of grasslands and scrubs have been destroyed for the housing industries. Most if not all of the useable habitat below eight hundred feet has been destroyed. Many ungulates like pigs, goats, cattle and deer and stripped and or pummeled the understory of many forests causing low growing plants , like the Ie’Ie Vine to disappear. The mosquitos many introduced diseases, are very effective against the Omao and other birds and can easily kill them if they are not immune enough to them. Rats, which were all brought by people tend to eat the Omao, causing wild populations to drop right down.

The species has been put under several conservation actions. These plans include the removal of pigs from several areas in the 1990s and the control of the rats, cats, dogs and ungulates from the areas; in the future though we do need to come up with a better way to protect the species.