ʻalawī

The ʻalawī, a small and unassuming member of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family, is endemic to the island of Hawai’i. Both the males and females of this species have an olive-colored coat with a slightly lighter underbelly, with the males of the species tending to be a bit brighter than the females. Both genders have a small gray mask around their eyes that helps with identification. Their song is a shrill single noted chirp that sometimes has a flare at the end. The ʻalawī did not receive its Hawaiian name until 2017, when a graduate from the University of Hawai’i who was studying Hawaiian language, came across text referencing the bird and its original name.