PARK DISTRIBUTION: Kilauea—Common in the more heavily vegetated areas around Kilauea Crater and to the east. Look for it at Kipuka Puaulu. Haleakala—Absent from Maui.
VOICE: A variety of short songs or calls. One is like a “wolf whistle”, a clear wheé-oo (or elepaí-o). Another is a nasal yeékik. A single wheek as well as short nasal chirps are also common.
The elepaio is probably the friendliest of our native birds. It is easily overlooked, since it usually remains fairly quiet when you first approach, but if you pause for a few moments in the wet fern jungle, one or more of these birds are likely to appear. They seem very inquisitive as they hop about in the low underbrush, often within a few feet of an observer, and they cock their tails high whenever they alight. Like the omao these birds often push their wings forward with a rapid shivering motion when confronted by people, probably a type of aggressive action.
Being a member of the Old World flycatcher family, the elepaio is adapted to an insect diet which it gleans from the tree tops to the ground, but mostly in the understory. It often feeds like a creeper, carefully working up or down the trunk of an ohia in search of insect life. There seem to be no seasonal movements; individuals or family groups of two to four birds apparently remain in the same general area throughout the year.
MYNAH Acridotheres tristis
MYNAH
DESCRIPTION: 9″. No other bird like it. Black, brown, and white with yellow bill, feet, and skin around the eye; above all noisy. Large white wing patches are conspicuous in flight.
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from India in 1865. Kilauea—Common at Park Headquarters, around other human habitations, and to the south especially around Hilina Pali. Occasional in the Kau Desert. Haleakala—A few live around the Park Headquarters area in the summer months but they descend to lower elevations in winter.
VOICE: A raucous mixture of squawks, mews, and chirrs not likely to be mistaken for any other bird.