Akiapolaau

The akiapōlāau (Hemignathus wilsoni), pronounced ah-kee-ah-POH-LAH-OW, is a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper that is endemic to the island of Hawaii. Its natural habitats are dry and montane moist forests, and it is the only bird species on the island to occupy the woodpecker niche. The bird is in length, and has an unusually curved beak-(a specialist species). The akiapolaau is a pudgy bird which has a whitish bottom and tail, black legs, yellow chest, orangish head, black face mask and bill and gray black wings. The male's song is either a loud, short pit-er-ieu or a rapid warba-warba. Its various calls include an upslurred whistle, a short cheedle-ee warble, and a short sweet. Due to the recent disappearance of the Kauai nukupuu in the 1900s and the Maui nukupuKauaʻi nukupuʻu|u in the 1990s, leading to fears that they may be extinct, the akiapōlāau may be the last of its genus. It is the only member of the subgenus Heterorhynchus, which has a woodpecker-like feeding habitat and exclusively preys on insects, in contrast to the nukupuʻu, which were both insect-eaters and also hummingbird-like nectarivores.

== Taxonomy and etymology == The English common name was adopted around 1905, directly from the Hawaiian name ʻakiapōlāʻau. The genus name, Hemignathus, is of Greek origin, meaning "half-jawed," a reference to the shorter mandible compared to the maxilla in birds of this genus. The specific epithet, wilsoni, honours the British ornithologist, Scott B. Wilson, renowned for his monumental three-volume work, "Aves Hawaiiensis: The Birds of the Sandwich Islands" (1890-1899).