Kauaʻi record · kba_bird_kauai_nukupuu
Kauai Nukupuu
Hemignathus hanapepe
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About Kauai Nukupuu
Kauai Nukupuu (Hemignathus hanapepe) is recorded as an extinct on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum's 2017 island checklist. This is a documented island occurrence, not a claim of an individual sighting in 2026.
Kauaʻi evidence
Bishop Museum island checklist (version 2, 2017) lists Kauaʻi status X: extinct. See original island table. The record includes Kauaʻi-specific or clearly defined regional evidence appropriate to its stated occurrence status. Historic Kauaʻi occurrence is documented; present status should not be inferred from a Hawaiʻi-wide name.
Occurrence evidence
bishop_island_checklist_2017
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Hemignathus hanapepe
- Common names
- Kauai Nukupuu
- Family
- Fringillidae
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Kauaʻi documented: extinct (2017 island checklist)
- Origin
- Endemic; extinct
- Conservation status
- Extinct
- Evidence date
- 2026-09-29
- Evidence limits
- Former island occurrence documented; no living local population is established by this source
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Montane forest · Forest
- Food and resource needs
- Used its asymmetric bill to hammer areas or fish prey from crevices, catching prey with tongue and lower mandible.
- Reproduction
- Historical breeding requirements are incompletely documented.
- Shelter
- Shelter and structure within montane forest, forest.
Threats and conservation
- Threats
- Unknown but likely habitat loss/degradation, introduced mammal predation, and disease · Mosquito-borne disease likely important given decline across nukupuu taxa
- Conservation actions
- Treat as historical/probably-extinct functional morphology record · Use to conservation analysis lost bark/crevice-foraging guild
- Monitoring
- Document date, place, observer, habitat, behavior, and supporting media for any Kauaʻi observation.
- Data gaps
- Verify former range, last record and local extinction chronology
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Extinct Historical
- Seasonal description
- Kauai Nukupuu (Hemignathus hanapepe) is recorded as an extinct on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum's 2017 island checklist. This is a documented island occurrence, not a claim of an individual sighting in 2026.