Comparing Apapane Prints

Beneath the horizontal line are:

• Apapane in Akala, a lithograph by Marian Berger.
• Apapane In O'hia #2, a Giclee by Marian Berger.
• Laysan Honeycreeper (aka Apapane), a print by Reggie David.
• Hematione sanguinea (aka Apapane), a print by Frederick Frohawk.
• Apapane #3, a photograph by Jack Jeffrey.

Marian's Giclee is more in the style of the other two prints, but still shows more detail on the bird, and much more detail on the vegetation, than the Reggie David or Frederick Frohawk prints.

The lithographs by Reggie David and Frederick Frohawk show female and immature apapane, of interest to a birder (apapane are not extinct). But which is correct for the adult female, a yellow or a brown bird? Or perhaps they are different subspecies?

Of interest (or frustration) to a birder: Berger's bird in the Giclee shows white on the flanks and on the top of the tail feathers, David's birds show white only underneath the tail of the male, and Frohawk's birds fall somewhere inbetween. Are apapane that variable? Different subspecies? Painted incorrectly? The photograph by Jack Jeffriey suggests Marian's lithograph is closer to nature than her Giclee. None of the paintings/prints show the white at the bottom of the folded wing in the photograph; my take is simply feather variability between individual birds and seasonal changes as birds molt.

Bottom line: five gorgeous images.