The Honeyeaters of American Samoa

The islands of American Samoa have a surprisingly diverse group of birds considering their remote geographic location. A wide range of resident seabirds as well as forest birds call our islands home. These birds enrich our forests and shores with their calls and, luckily for us, some of our most striking birds also happen to be some of our most common. Even more surprising is that our most attractive birds, the honeyeaters, are often found close to villages because of the abundant flowers in gardens. We have two types here in American Samoa, the cardinal honeyeater, and the wattled honeyeater. Both primarily feed on flower nectar, though neither actually eats honey.

The cardinal honeyeater is the territory’s smallest bird. Reaching only 9cm, they resemble a hummingbird in size. In fact, since our islands are devoid of hummingbirds, these little birds have taken up that role. They can actually be seen hovering in front of flowers sipping the nectar, although perched on the flower is the more common feeding behavior. While nectar forms the bulk of the diet, they also opportunistically eat insects and spiders.

These birds are also one of the only native birds which exhibit sexual dimorphism, which is a fancy way of saying that males and females are dissimilarly colored. The bright scarlet-red and black males easily outshine the drab females, which are colored an olive-brown with a dull red rump. Not surprising, the female does most of the incubation of the nest, which is cup-shaped and built between small forks in branches and constructed almost entirely of grass stems. Three to five small white eggs with a few red spots are laid any time of year, though the Southern summer months seem to be the peak time. Interestingly in American Samoa these little birds are found only on Tutuila being entirely absent from all of the Manu’a Islands and the atolls.

The wattled honeyeater is a comparable giant next to the cardinal honeyeater. They measure 19cm, and their fearless and aggressive nature makes them less wary than many other forest birds. Primarily nectivorous, the wattled honeyeater is also known to include soft fruits and berries in its diet. It is also more likely to include insects and spiders into its diet and because of its larger size is even able to occasionally capture small geckos and skinks (lizards). Favorite nectar gardens are jealously guarded, especially from the introduced red-vented bulbuls, which have become the wattled honeyeaters nemesis. The wattled honeyeaters’ aggressiveness and size are very useful as it allows them to drive off other larger birds especially around nest, including the introduced mynas and bulbuls. These fearless birds are also helpful to others as they sound the alarm call at the first sight of danger especially if a barn owl, their main predator, is sighted.

Males and females are both olive-green with a large yellow patch of bare skin under the eye. Their nest is strung underneath horizontally forked branches and is made of fine grass stalks, vine tendrils, rootlets, and spider silk. Usually only a single egg is laid during the summer months. It is reddish-brown with dark speckles. Both parents rear the offspring for a considerable time. This bird is endemic to the region (western Polynesia and Fiji) and it is our most familiar native bird.