Hawaiian honeycreepers in peril

An effort to increase the count of one of Hawaii’s most critically endangered birds has stalled due to at least nine of 13 kiwikiu — a yellow and olive-green Hawaiian honeycreeper — apparently succumbing to avian malaria, a major killer of forest birds in Hawaii.

While mosquito vectors have long forced some forest birds into mountain terrain, warming climate conditions are allowing the insect to reach higher elevations. This setback for the species underscores the need to effectively control the mosquito population. Failure to do so could result in further kiwikiu demise; the total of various honeycreeper species extinctions is upwards of 20.

Beware of faked OCP emails

Most folks aren’t fooled anymore by emails promising cash in exchange for advancing funds to a Nigerian prince. That’s so last century.

But one current scam sends local businesses a phishing email from a spoofed account, apparently from the state Office of Consumer Protection, seeking private information. OCP says it would never ask a business to download a password-protected file.

Of course, the whole idea of confidence tricks is to use a front that inspires confidence. Still, pretty nervy on the scammer’s part.