[2][3] There are two recognized subspecies: C. v. wilsoni on Maui, Molokaʻi, and (formerly) Lānaʻi, and C. v. virens on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

[5] The Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi has a very wide diet, and has been able to find food despite habitat alteration.

It has a tubular tongue, which it uses to drink nectar from flowers such as those of the ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), ʻākala (Rubus hawaiensis), and māmane (Sophora chrysophylla).

[4] Hawaiʻi ʻamakihi are a productive species with a long breeding season, lasting about 9 months.

They often are able to have two broods within a breeding season; having two rounds of chicks enables their population to increase more rapidly than slow growing species like the endangered Kiwikiu.