Bird name:

Palila

Loxiodes balleui

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Finches (Fringillidae)

Code 4

PALI

Code 6

LOXBAI

ITIS

179578

Breeding Location:

Forests

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Declining

Egg Color:

White with red-brown specks

Number of Eggs:

1 - 2

Incubation Days:

16 - 17

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Sticks, twigs, grass

Migration:

Nonmigratory

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General

Palila: Large finch-billed honeycreeper, endemic to Hawaii. Yellow head with black lores, seperated from gray back by distinct line. Breast is yellow, belly is white and back is gray. Wings and tail are olive-green. Female is dull, with green-yellow head, gray lores, gray-yellow superciliary and forehead, and indistinct line at nape, with gray and yellow feathers mixed together. Juvenile is similar to female, shows two complete or partial pale green wing bars.

Range and Habitat

Palila: Currently restricted to the upper slopes of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii. The west slope of Mauna Kea contains the majority of the population. They live in mamane-naio forests between the elevations of 6,000 and 9,000 feet.

Breeding and Nesting

Palila: One to two white eggs with reddish-brown specks are laid in a cup-shaped nest of sticks, twigs, and grasses in a mamane tree. Incubation is carried out by the female for 16 to 17 days. Nesting can occur from February to September depending on the amount of mamane pods available.

Foraging and Feeding

Palila: Feeds primarily on the unripe seed pods of the mamane tree but will also eat insects, naio berries and mamane buds, flowers and leaves.

Vocalization

Palila: Song is a series of soft warbles and trills and call is an up-slurred two or three note whistle. Also gives a call "palila" for which the bird is named.

Similar Species

Palila: Not likely to be confused with any other species.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America