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Age and sex identification of Akohekohe

1998; Association of Field Ornithologists; Volume: 69; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

1557-9263

John C. Simon, Thane K. Pratt, Kim E. Berlin, James R. Kowalsky,

Bird parasitology and diseases

--We present methods to determine the age and sex of Akohekohe (Palmeria dolei), an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper, developed on the basis of 45 museum specimens and 91 live birds captured on the island of Maui. Akohekohe retained all juvenal primaries, some juvenal secondaries, and some body feathers after the first prebasic molt; they attained full adult plumage after the second prebasic molt. Retention of brown juvenal body feathers, especially on the head, distinguished most birds in the first basic plumage from adults, which have a full complement of distinctive, black lanceolate body feathers with white, gray, or orange tips. Male Akohekohe were heavier than females and had longer wing, tail, and tarsometatarsus lengths. We present a linear discriminant function to sex both adults and juveniles using lengths of their wing and tarsometatarsus. IDENTIFICACIISN DE EDAD Y SEXO EN PALMERIA DOLEI Sinopsis.--Presentamos m•todos desarrollados en base de 45 especimenes de museo y 91 aves vivas capturadas en la isla de Maui para determinar la edad y el sexo de Palmefta dolei, una especie en peligro de extinci6n en Hawaii. Estos individuos retuvieron todas las primarias juveniles, algunas secundarias juveniles, y algunas plumas del cuerpo despu•s de la primera muda prebfisica; obtuvieron plumaje adulto despu•s de la segunda muda preb•sica. La retenci6n de plumas corp0reas juveniles color marr6n, especialmente n la cabeza, distingui6 a la mayor/a de las aves en la primera muda preb•sica de los adultos, que tienen un complemento completo de plumas corp6reas negras lanceoladas con las puntas blancas, grises o anaranjadas. Los machos de la especie pesaron m•s que las hembras y ten/an alas, colas y tarsometatarsos mils largos. Presentamos una funci6n linear de discriminaci6n para determinar sexo tanto de adultos como de juveniles utilizando los largos de sus alas y de sus tarsometatarsos. The Akohekohe (Palmeria dolei) is an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper (Fringillidae: Drepanidinae) endemic to the high elevation wet forests of east Maui Island, Hawaii. Formerly found on the neighboring island of Molokai (Perkins 1903), the current population of approximately 3800 individuals (Scott et al. 1986) is now restricted to a thin band of native ohia (Metrosideros polymorpha) forest between 1500 and 2200 m elevation on the north and east slopes of Haleakala volcano. The adult Akohekohe, with its unique forehead crest and distinctive black, white, orange and gray plumage, is easily identified as it moves rapidly over the expansive canopy in search of nectar. As part of a larger study on Akohekohe ecology, we captured, banded, and described the morphometric and plumage characteristics of 91 live birds. Combining these data with those obtained from 45 museum spec1 Current address: 26 Horton Street, Malverne, New York 11565 USA. 2 Current address: Maui Forest Recovery Project, 534 Olinda Rd., Makawao, Hawaii 96768 USA.