[Illustration: MYNAH]
DESCRIPTION: 9″. No other bird like it. Black, brown, and white with
yellow bill, feet, and skin around the eye; above all noisy. Large white
wing patches are conspicuous in flight.
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from India in 1865. Kilauea—Common at Park
Headquarters, around other human habitations, and to the south
especially around Hilina Pali. Occasional in the Kau Desert. Haleakala—A
few live around the Park Headquarters area in the summer months but they
descend to lower elevations in winter.
VOICE: A raucous mixture of squawks, mews, and chirrs not likely to be
mistaken for any other bird.
For a bird that prefers to live around human habitations, the mynah is
extremely wary of people—probably with good reason, for among the
imported birds the mynah has never been particularly well loved. Yet it
is at least partly beneficial since it often feeds on agricultural
insect pests. “Mynah bird” has become a favorite Hawaiian expression for
anyone who chatters endlessly.
WHITE-EYE _Zosterops palpibrosus_
(also mejiro)
[Illustration: WHITE-EYE]
DESCRIPTION: 4½″. A tiny yellow-green bird with a distinct _white
eye-ring_. Its back and wings are green, the throat yellow, and under
parts gray; the bill is thin and straight. Only other common small green
bird is the amakihi, which has no white around the eyes. Immatures are
duller, and the eye-ring, although present, is less distinct.
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from Japan in 1929. Now widely established
on all islands. Kilauea—Common almost everywhere in the park.
Haleakala—Fairly common throughout the park, except at the highest
elevations or in the barren portions of the crater.
VOICE: A thin, high-pitched song a bit like that of the house finch, but
much higher and not as loud. Note: a high _tsee_ or _chee_ given
repeatedly.
You will hear a rapid chittering of high notes as a flock of three or
four white-eyes fly into the nearby shrubbery. Notice how quickly they
work over the foliage and limbs gleaning tiny insects. They continue to
utter their notes as they feed, but soon one by one they are off again
to new vegetation.
The pattern of population increase for the white-eye has paralleled that
of many exotic species. Following their introduction in 1929 the birds
were at first slow to increase their range, but in more recent years a
population explosion has taken place ... on the Island of Hawaii, at
least. It is presently the commonest bird on the island and it seems to
have adapted to nearly every habitat. There is every indication that the
white-eye, competing for insects with native Hawaiian birds such as the
Hawaiian creeper, has virtually eliminated some of the natives from
their former habitat.