Why are there no endemic forest birds in the lowland areas ?
A. The first reason that native birds are confined to higher elevations is the clearance of much of the native forests of lowland Hawai’i by the Polynesian settlers and later by Westerners. This meant that there was not much suitable or enough habitat left to support these native forest species. The second reason is the presence of Mosquitoes in Hawai’i which can transmit Avian Malaria to birds. It is only at the higher and colder elevations that the Mosquitoes do not occur, although they are becoming more resistant. Good news is that some of the birds appear to be becoming immune to the Malaria and some such as ‘Elepaio and ‘Amakihi may be seen at much lower elevations than they were a few years ago, the bad news is that many species have already been wiped out. During Hurricane ‘Iniki on Kaua’i in 1992 ‘Apapane were actually seen in several lowland areas, birds did what they had done for hundreds of years and resorted to flying to the lower more sheltered areas, although their outcom
