The `Akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus) is a Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the island of Hawaii. It is a small forest bird with a short tail and a long decurved bill. In 1779, Captain Cook’s naturalists were the first to collect a specimen of `Akialoa. It was originally named the “hook-billed green creeper.” By the 1890s, the sighting of an `Akialoa was rare. According to the Bishop Museum, a partner that manages some park specimens, it was last seen in 1895. The Hawaii `Akialoa is presumably extinct due to forest decline and the effects of introduced plants, animals, and diseases.

The `Akialoa fed on insects and spiders from foliage and tree bark, from under lichens, and from within the bases of `ie`ie leaves. It also fed on nectar of `ohia and lobelia. These birds were once plentiful in the lower forests of Hawaii Island and could be seen in tall `ohia trees and tree ferns.

This specimen was originally part of a Victorian-style display case of native and exotic items, including a feather lei, three nests, and twenty-nine birds. In the mid-1890s, Catholic priests reportedly collected the birds while staying at Volcano House, a hotel that still operates on the crater rim of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes. In return for free lodging, the priests gave the birds to Peter Lee, who managed Volcano House from 1891-1894. Gilbert Lee, a descendant, donated the specimens to the park in 1982.