Greater koa finch below. It had a thick black bill which allowed it to break open seed pods that were found in the trees. In historical times, its range was largely confined to the Kona District of the island of Hawaii, although it was observed in the Kīlauea area in 1895. It was much more widespread prior to the arrival of humans in Hawaii, and related species lived on other islands. In Kona, it co-occurred with the closely related lesser koa finch ("Rhodocanthis flaviceps"), and the Kona grosbeak. The lesser and greater koa finches were once thought by scientists to be the minimum
Koa Kannon the Soto school. General Iwane Matsui who commanded the Shanghai Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War built the Koa Kannon statue after retiring from the service in 1940 to honor the officers and men of both China and Japan who fell in battle in the name of consecrating equally both friend and enemy. The statue was made using clay from battlefields, including from the vicinity of Nanjing where Matsui served. On 24 February 1940 the consecration ceremony was performed in the presence of Tessui Oshima, a high-ranking Jodo Buddhist monk from Zojo-ji, and other distinguished figures.