The Moa is the only wingless bird has ever existed, after being hunted to extinction in 1500 by the Maoris in New Zealand and are the only species of birds with no wings.
The mao or ma'oma'o (Gymnomyza samoensis) is a passerine bird belonging to the genus Gymnomyza in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae and an endangered species and is endemic to the Samoan Islands.
It is a large honeyeater, 28–31 cm (11–12 in) long with dark plumage varying from blackish on the head and breast to olive-green on the wings and body.
There is a dark greenish mark under the eye and the bill is long, curved and black in an adult and yellowish in a chick or juvenile and the legs and feet are also black. Adult birds have light blue or brown eyes whilst all juveniles have a brown iris obvious by bobbing its tail while foraging along the trunk and branches of trees.
Nests are built at varying heights in the branches of many different tree species with a single whitish brown speckled egg is laid in a simple sticky cup nest.
It is a noisy bird with beautiful loud whistling and mewing calls given most often prior to dawn and around dusk.
It is found on the islands of Upolu and Savai'i and formerly occurred also on Tutuila but is now locally extinct in the latter and normally inhabits mountain forest but has also been recorded in scrub and coastal coconut trees. The population, which numbers between 250-999 birds, is thought to be declining. It is threatened by destruction of the forest and the spread of introduced predators such as rats.
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