Remaining birds such as the 'Akikiki, 'I'iwi, and Kiwikiu face multiple threats, ranging from loss of their feeding and nesting areas to direct predation by invasive species. Mosquito-borne diseases have further decimated populations of Hawaiian birds.

The extinction of Hawaiian birds is a tragic example of "island syndrome" caused by several overlapping factors over the last few centuries. Historically, the primary driver was habitat loss due to agriculture and urban development. However, the most devastating blow came from introduced invasive species. Rats, mongooses, and cats preyed on nests and eggs, while goats and pigs destroyed the native forests the birds relied on for food. In the modern era and into 2026, the "silent killer" has been avian malaria, a disease transmitted by non-native mosquitoes. Because Hawaiian birds evolved in isolation, they have no natural immunity; for some species, a single bite from an infected mosquito is 100% fatal. Climate change has exacerbated this by warming the high-elevation "refuge" forests where it used to be too cold for mosquitoes to survive, allowing the disease to reach the final remaining populations of honeycreepers. Today, conservationists are in a race against time, using techniques like releasing "incompatible" male mosquitoes and captive breeding programs to save the remaining 17 species from the same fate as the 30+ that have already been lost forever.