VOICE: A mockingbird-like series of sustained musical and harsh notes that carries for a great distance. The rich phrases may be repeated several times before a new pattern is given.
These secretive birds seem to make a vertical migration to Kilauea from the east each summer. They are rarely observed in the park during winter months, but that may be due to their lack of song in the non-breeding season. In summer you will probably hear several before seeing even one, as they are wary and keep to the underbrush, moving about very little.
RED-BILLED LEIOTHRIX Leiothrix lutea
(also Japanese hill robin or Peking nightingale)
RED-BILLED LEIOTHRIX
DESCRIPTION: 5½″. One of the easiest to identify: An olive-green bird with contrasting red and yellow markings and a bright red-orange bill. The back is olive-green, throat lemon-yellow shading to red-orange in the breast, and the wing varied with yellow, orange, crimson, and black. Immatures are not as bright, but have the same general markings.
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Introduced to the islands from Asia mainly in the twenties. Kilauea—Very common throughout vegetated areas. Haleakala—Fairly common in areas of dense vegetation such as Paliku.
VOICE: No wonder these birds are sometimes called “robins”, for their robinlike warbled song fills the air in spring and summer. If you approach they will often begin their excited noisy call notes, a rapid bzzt-bzzt-bzzt, etc., which will usually continue for some time as the birds nervously flit about the underbrush. Another common note, usually heard from a distance, is a sharp wheek-wheek-wheek made up of 3-8 notes.
The leiothrix is strictly a bird of the undergrowth and you are likely to find it wherever there is plenty of bush cover in moist forested areas. Mamake, a Hawaiian nettle, is one of its favorite haunts. If one bird is seen, there are probably several others nearby, and flocks of a dozen or more are common in fall and winter. Fruit, seeds, and insects comprise the food.
These birds have strange migration habits. In the fall and early winter large flocks may suddenly appear at the summit of Haleakala where they stay a short time and then return to lower areas. On Hawaii flocks have been recorded at above 13,000 feet on Mauna Loa during this season, but they are reduced by deaths caused by exposure and starvation on the barren slopes if they do not descend soon.