APAPANE
(immature and adult)
DESCRIPTION: 5½″. Crimson red with black wings and tail, white abdomen, and slightly down-curved black bill. Only similar species, the iiwi, has a red abdomen and a long orange bill. Immatures are confusing, as the red is mostly lacking. However, grayish birds having a touch of rusty red on the sides and white under the tail, and feeding in ohia tops, are surely this species. The throat and face of young apapanes may appear yellow-orange.
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Kilauea—Common to abundant throughout the wet ohia forest; much less common in the drier forests. Haleakala—Common locally in forested areas such as Hosmer Grove or Paliku.
VOICE: You will hear a constant chorus of short songs and notes from the highest ohia tops whenever apapanes are about. The quality varies from sweet whistled notes to harsh chips and buzzes, usually intermixed. Probably the most varied songster in the park.
The apapane is likely to be your first introduction to the endemic Hawaiian honeycreepers. While most of Hawaii’s native birds have either become extinct or are greatly reduced in numbers, this species seems to have held its own wherever there are ohia trees to provide a supply of lehua nectar. Examine a cluster of red ohia blossoms. You will find that each tiny cup which bears long bright stamens is filled with honey. A single ohia in full bloom with countless thousands of these nectar-cups must produce many pounds of honey. No wonder one blossoming tree will attract so many honeycreepers.
You will see the birds high in the trees, flitting about from flower to flower, often stopping to pick up insects along the way. Although a few trees are in bloom throughout the year in any given area, there are definite “flowering periods” for the ohia when more than half of the trees may be in full blossom. The season for these flowering periods will vary among localities, and tremendous flocks of apapanes and other honeycreepers follow the bloom from one area to another. They can often be seen flying high overhead in small groups, all going in the same direction. But even during times when the ohias are out of bloom a few apapanes will remain in the forest.
The breeding season is an extended one, and you may see immature apapanes with almost no sign of red plumage from February to October.
Ohia blossom nectar is the staple food for the apapane and iiwi