ʻŌʻū – Builder of Forests

Description

The ʻōʻū (pronounced ōh-ew) belongs to a family of honeycreepers who contributed to building the forests of Hawaiʻi over millions of years. Flocks of ʻōʻū could once be seen flying between the pali (cliffs) looking for their favorite foods. ʻIeʻie, ʻōhā wai and other forest understory plants with fleshy fruit were the ʻōʻū’s main food source. An early naturalist noted that these birds were big talkers, twittering loudly while feeding. ʻŌʻū were strong flyers who sowed seeds throughout the forest as they sped to their next food source. The ʻō’ū was last seen in the late 1980’s and most ornithologists believe it is now extinct.

This woodcut print was inspired by my volunteer work, over 15 years, in several of the last remaining native forests on Hawaiʻi island. Endemic native birds co-evolved with the forests, their food choices being defined by the available plants. Over time, honeycreepers co-evolved with specific plants and offered the essential services of pollinating plants, sowing seeds and controlling insects. Honeycreepers, the most beautiful and fanciful of all Hawaiʻian birds, evolved specific “tools of the trade,” such as many types of specialized bills for collecting nectar and dispersing pollen, cracking hard seed pods or tweezing insects from the bark of trees. Over 77 birds have become extinct over the past 700 years in Hawaiʻi. Many human activities like the introduction of pigs and other hooved animals, mosquitos arriving in ships carrying fatal avian malaria, predation by rats, mongoos and cats and large-scale loss of ecosystems all have contributed to these extinctions. As humans developed ranching, built resorts, golf-courses and housing these birds lost their food sources. Because native birds co-evolved with native plants, they generally do not feed on introduced plants. With the extinctions and severely reduced population of our forest-building birds, the job of planting native forests now falls primarily to humans.

This print depicts a male ʻōʻū pecking at ripeʻ ieʻie while the female below is eating the flower bracts. A female peers through the shelter of ʻieʻie, in my imagination, checking to see if she can join in the feast. Another favorite food, the golden pods of theʻ ōhʻa wai hover above. It is estimated that only 12 plants remain in the wild.