The Hawaii race of the Hawaiian Creeper (Loxops maculatus mana) has recently been classified as endangered (USFWS 1975). As recently as 1972, so little was known about the bird’s distribution and abundance that Berger (1972:137), in summarizing existing knowledge, was unable to state whether the species was uncommon or on the verge of extinction. Underlying the lack of information on this bird’s status is the inability of many observers to consistently and correctly distinguish it from the abundant Hawaii race of the Amakihi (Loxops virens virens). Field identification of these two species is problematic on the islands of Oahu (Shallenberger and Pratt 1978) and Hawaii. The similarity of these two birds on the island of Hawaii has been previously mentioned by Henshaw (1902), Munro (1944) and Peterson (1961), but adequate field characters still have not been well documented. Because the creeper is classed as endangered and because identifications have often been uncertain, we herein identify and document the behavioral and morphological characters that have proved useful in identifying the Hawaii Creeper.