Creature Feature #551: ʻŌʻū

The ʻŌʻū was a large, plump finch, endemic to the Hawaiian islands. He favoured a frugivorous diet, feeding predominently on the fruit of the ʻieʻie vine and the buds and blossoms of the ʻōhiʻa lehua (as pictured here). A seasonal migrant, his foraging took him up and down the mountains on the islands, and also between islands. This proved to be his undoing, as it brought him into range of the lower-altitude mosquitoes and, like many of his kin, he fell victim to avian malaria and also fowlpox. The last recorded sighting was in 1989 and although not yet proven extinct (still classified as "Critically endangered"), this unique Hawaiian bird has probably vanished forever.