Mike in the Wild

I recently wrote about Hawaiian honeycreepers, endemic birds to these Pacific islands that have struggled for survival due to the destruction of their habitats and, more recently, climate change.   Several cling to survival, but most species in this diverse family of birds have gone extinct.  But there is another family of endemic birds, the monarch flycatchers, that have fortunately fared better over the millennium that Hawaii has shared its landscape with mankind.  Monarch flycatchers are Old World passerine birds that populate sub-Sahara Africa, Southeast Asia, Australasia and some Pacific Islands.  The Hawaiian birds in the family make up their own genus, chasiempis.   And the three islands they inhabit are also the unique homes of the three separate endemic species in the genus: the Oahu 'elepaio, the Hawaii 'elepaio, and the Kauai 'elepaio. The three species of 'elepaios seem to have a greater immunity to the mosquito-born diseases that have ...