When you are a caterpillar in the Alakaʻi visions of ʻakikiki probably haunt your every waking hour. For being the spunky charismatic birds that they are, ʻakikiki are also fierce predators. They spend all day everyday creeping over branches and combing through bark and moss in search of their insect prey. Their favorite though, are large caterpillars like the one in these photos. After finding this particular meal this bird flew off to a more sturdy branch, bit off the caterpillars head (at least it was quick), "tenderized" it's meal, and swallowed it down. ʻAkikiki are very efficient though, as soon as this caterpillar was gone, he was off in search of his next meal.
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