Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This iconic Hawaiian endemic, along with the Nene, White Tern, and Laysan Albatross, is among the most yearned-for lifers on many birders’ first trip to Hawaii. Unlike the Nene, which is doing very well in recent years, the Iiwi is in big trouble. It’s extremely vulnerable to even a single bite from a mosquito carrying avian malaria or avian pox, and with global warming, mosquitoes are working their way higher and higher in Hawaiian mountains, reducing the safe areas where these splendid birds still remain.

Equally scary, a new danger is just as grave. Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) is a newly identified fungal disease currently attacking and killing ʻōhiʻa trees on Hawaiʻi Island, and has also been found on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai. This fungus clogs the tree’s vascular system, depriving the canopy of water, and may kill ʻōhiʻa within weeks. Iiwis are utterly dependent on this tree (the tree the illustrated bird is feeding in), so this is an existential crisis for these exquisite birds. Pigs, sheep, and other introduced mammals continue to destroy essential forested habitat over a huge swath of where Iiwis once lived. Unless Iiwi habitat is strongly fenced, these mammals continue to plague them even in their remaining range.