UNDERCONSTRUCTION

The colorful i'iwi is an extremely rare bird that can be found in the upper forests of Hawai'i, Maui, and Kauai'i. A favorite food of these birds is the nectar from the lehua blossom of the native 'o'hi'a tree. The i'iwi is one of over fifty species of the Hawaiian honeycreeper that are believed to have evolved from a common ancestral species that arrived in Hawai'i millions of years ago.

Many of Hawaii's native birds were killed to make the chiefs' cloaks. Some cloaks took up to 8,000 birds to make them.