We have no way of knowing what kind of land bird was the first to take
up residence here, for that early species has certainly been greatly
altered through the workings of evolution. In fact today nearly all the
resident native birds are types that are now found nowhere else in the
world. Birds such as these are called _endemic_; they have undergone
gradual change over the millennia to become completely new forms,
different from any birds found elsewhere.
Many of Hawaii’s endemic species belong to the Hawaiian honeycreeper
family (Drepaniidae) and are thought to have evolved from a single bird
prototype that possibly arrived here from Central or South America.
Explosive bursts of evolutionary change followed, and the resulting new
forms did not much resemble each other. Present day park representatives
of the Hawaiian honeycreepers include the apapane, iiwi, and amakihi.
Besides the Hawaiian honeycreeper stock several other early migrants
made their residence in Hawaii and evolved into endemic forms. In the
park they include a Hawaiian race of the (North American) short-eared
owl, the io (a hawk), the nene (a goose), the omao (a thrush), and the
elepaio (an Old World flycatcher).