Deadly Mosquitoes Are Killing Off Hawaii's Rare Forest Birds

It’s hard to imagine a time when Hawaii’s native forest birds were so abundant that Hawaiian honeycreeper songs were ear-splitting, as one early naturalist described it.

Only 17 forest bird species are left in the islands, down from more than 50 that evolved here over thousands of years, according to the Audubon Society. And nearly all of those that persist appear poised for extinction in this century as threats to their survival intensify with the onset of climate change.

Over time, Hawaii’s mountaintop forests have become the birds’ last refuge. That’s because this high-elevation habitat has historically been too cool to host the birds’ most severe threat: mosquitoes carrying avian malaria.

But as climate change drives up temperatures in Hawaii’s mountaintop forests, mosquitoes are moving toward the summit, threatening to banish the birds’ only disease-free frontier.

Read more: https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/12/deadly-mosquitoes-are-killing-off-hawaiis-rare-forest-birds/