ʻĀmaui

ʻĀmaui
Conservation status
Extinct (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Turdidae
Genus:	Myadestes
Species:	M. woahensis
Binomial name
Myadestes woahensis (Bloxam, 1899)

The Oahu Thrush or ʻĀmaui, Myadestes woahensis, was a bird in the genus Myadestes . Endemic to the island of Oahu, it was the first of its genus to go extinct, ca. 1850.

Its island name Amaui is technically a corruption, as the Hawaiians considered all the thrushes from Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Oahu to be one species, the Amaui. It was a large brownish songbird that lived in much of the highland forests on Oahu. It may have been mainly a fruit eater like many of the other Hawaiian Thrushes. Due to its quick extinction, little is known about the Amaui. It may have nested in trees like the Omao or nested in crevices like the extinct Kamao. Its song was reported to be similar to the Molokai Olama’o as it may be its closest relative. It went extinct due to serious habitat degradation and destruction. Mosquitos, introduced about thirty years earlier, caused the birds to evacuate what little good habitat was left in the low altitude areas of Oahu - and if the birds did not leave, they would have contracted malaria and perished. Birds that retreated to upper elevations would have been harassed by introduced rats, which attack the berries and steal chicks from nests. This species' extinction was not a well recorded one, as no one mentions a specific year when the Amaui was last identified. Scientists believe that the species vanished between 1840 to 1860, most likely during the late 1850s. It is known from a single specimen taken in 1825 (now lost) and subfossil bones. The name derives from manu a Māui: "Māui's bird.

References

• BirdLife Species Factsheet

External links

• BirdLife International 2004. Myadestes woahensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 31 July 2008