Juvenile i`iwi detected in lower elevations of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The Hawaiian islands are home
to a diverse array of plants and
animals found nowhere else on
Earth. Among the most famous of
these are the spectacular Hawaiian
honeycreepers, a group that evolved
from a single flock of ancestral
finches into at least 54 unique
species. Unfortunately, the same
isolation that fostered such dramatic
adaptive radiation left Hawaiian
species vulnerable.

Under the onslaught of alien species
predation and competition, habitat
degradation, and introduced
infectious diseases and parasites,
most of the surviving honeycreepers
have become largely confined to
higher elevations. Intact habitat
exists above the warm-weather
range of deadly introduced avian
malaria (Plasmodium relictum),
and its mosquito vector (Culex
quinquefasciatus).