The name ʻakihikeʻehiʻale, given to Tristram’s Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami), was found in a 19th-century publication called He Vahi Huli-Toa Manu Havaii written by Z. Teauotalani, often known as “Kepelino” to modern readers. Though his description is brief, Teauotalani describes a small black seabird with swift flight and the ability to step on waves in search of food on the ocean surface (Teauotalani 1860, 29).
Linguistically, ʻakihikeʻehiʻale can be interpreted as “bird with a hooked beak that treads on billows.” The word ā is said to refer to the jaw of the bird, kihi is a descriptor of ā meaning "curved" or "hooked." Keʻehi is to tread upon the ʻale, or “billows.” Many other traditional names of native birds refer to their curved beaks. For example, the names of both the endangered ʻakiapōlāʻau (Hemignathus munroi) and extinct ʻakialoa (Akialoa sp.) are said to mean "bird with a curved beak that scoops holes in wood" and "bird with a lengthy, curved beak," respectively.
The hook on the beak of Oceanodroma tristrami is not extreme as with some other Hawaiian birds but is certainly present. This, and the other identifying characteristics found in the bird's name and in Teauotalani’s description point to the identity of this mysterious bird being a species of storm-petrel. Storm-petrels are small black pelagic birds known to “step” on waves in search of food on the surface of the sea (Slotterback 2020).
There are three species of storm-petrel regularly seen in Hawaiian waters, Oceanodroma tristrami, Oceanodroma castro, and Oceanodroma leucorha. Oceanodroma castro already has a known name in the Hawaiian language, ʻakēʻakē. While it is not impossible that the ʻakēʻakē had more than one Hawaiian name, we assume that this is not the case, and therefore conclude that Oceanodroma castro is not likely the identity of the ʻakihikeʻehiʻale. As for Oceanodroma leucorha, it is not a species known to nest in the Hawaiian Islands, though it is regularly seen offshore. The existence of the traditional Hawaiian knowledge given by Teauotalani about the diet of the ʻakihikeʻehiʻale suggests that native Hawaiians were at some point able to catch and closely examine these bird—something that would have been significantly easier to do with a species that nests in Hawaiʻi rather than a species that is exclusively seen offshore. In fact, there are no recorded native Hawaiian bird hunting methods for pelagic birds that do not involve catching birds either at a nesting site or returning to or leaving from their nests (Gomes 2015). We can therefore assume that Oceanodroma leucorha is not a likely candidate for the identity of the ʻakihikeʻehiʻale. Assuming that there was not at some point an additional unknown storm-petrel species that nested in the Hawaiian Islands, we are left with Oceanodroma tristrami as the most likely candidate for the identity of the mysterious ʻakihikeʻehiʻale.
