Facing extinction due in large part to the effects of climate change, the ‘i’iwi — a scarlet honeycreeper only found in Hawaii — will receive federal protection as a threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday.

Once common from mauka to makai throughout the islands, the small red bird is now found almost exclusively in high-elevation forests on Maui and the Big Island. The population on Kauai has plummeted 92 percent over the past 25 years and the bird is almost completely gone from Lanai, Oahu and Molokai.

Lost habitat and mosquitoes carrying avian diseases and malaria are to blame. The ‘i’iwi are no longer in places that mosquitoes thrive, which is why they have found refuge in koa and ohia forests above 3,600 feet.

But as the planet warms, the mosquitoes’ range increases, further constricting the space available for the ‘i’iwi.

Courtesy: Bettina Arrigoni/Flickr

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for the birds’ protection in 2010. The Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement Tuesday that it determined the threatened listing was warranted under the Endangered Species Act based on a review of the best information available for the ‘i‘iwi.