ARTICLES ON HAWAIIAN AND PACIFIC BIRDS, BIRDWATCHING AND WILDLIFE
October 2003 Update on the Po'ouli Translocation
September 2004 Update on the Po'ouli Translocation
December 2004 Update on the Po'ouli Translocation
Detailed accounts of the Life History of the Po'ouli can be found by Clicking Here and its demise by Clicking Here.
October 2003 Update on the Po'ouli Translocation
Po`ouli Capture Efforts Resume
News Release October 23, 2003
“Last Ditch Effort” Hopes to Bring Remaining Three Birds into Captivity. A team of biologists is resuming efforts on Maui this week to capture and bring into captivity the last three remaining po`ouli, a unique Hawaiian forest bird, known to exist. A similar attempt earlier this year was foiled by adverse weather conditions and an uncooperative or perhaps net-wary female bird. “We’re hoping for better luck this time,” said Eric VanderWerf, lead Hawaiian forest bird biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Islands office. “As a safety measure for the birds, we don’t deploy our mist-nets to capture birds during inclement weather. Not only is it dangerous for the birds, which could become hypothermic if they get too wet, but helicopter transport also isn’t available under poor visibility conditions. Last winter, we only set up nets on 22 of the scheduled 42 field days, and though we saw the po`ouli 12 times in 9 days, she was able to avoid capture.” Four week-long field trips led by Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project staff have been scheduled so far, with the first beginning on October 21 and the last extending into mid-December. The six to eight-person teams will attempt to capture the male bird first this time. If he is safely brought into captivity, the crews will move on to the two female po`ouli. “We believe that bringing the three po`ouli in from the wild is the best and last chance we have to save this unique bird from extinction,” said Paul Conry, wildlife program manager for the State DLNR’s Division of Forestry & Wildlife. “Despite our efforts to protect habitat, control weeds and predators, and translocate one of the females into the male’s territory, we have not been able to form a breeding pair in the wild. It has been a long process trying to bring these three birds together, and we hope that what we have learned over the last couple of years will allow us to be successful this time around.” The 2002 translocation project by the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project staff provided significant knowledge about how a po`ouli may react to captivity. Using that experience, biologists were able to develop a protocol for bringing the birds into captivity.After sighting the bird, they set up a mist net – a soft, fine mesh, almost invisible net – is set up in the vicinity to capture the bird. If successfully captured, the bird will be placed in a padded temporary holding cage so that is cannot injure itself. A highly qualified avian veterinarian will be on each trip to evaluate the bird’s health and stress levels. If the bird is judged to be healthy and not overly stressed, team members will then hike with the bird to the nearest helicopter landing zone, where it will be picked up and flown with the avian veterinarian to the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda. The facility – like the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on the Big Island – is operated by the Zoological Society of San Diego. “Establishing a breeding pair of po`ouli may be the most challenging task we've ever attempted,” said Alan Lieberman, avian conservation coordinator for the Zoologica Society. “We have successfully bred several Hawaiian bird species, including the `alala, puaiohi, and palila, and even reintroduced them into the wild, but to start off with only three birds, all of which are at least 6 years old, just increases the difficulties.” “We had hoped these birds could be recovered in the wild,” he continued. "But now we're running out of time, and we're committed to this last ditch effort to prevent their extinction.” The stocky little bird with a black mask is part of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family, but is so unique it occupies its own genus. It is the only Hawaiian forest bird to rely heavily on native tree snails as its food. Despite extensive searches, only three birds – a male and two females – have been found in recent years, and all in separate home ranges. The elusive po`ouli was not even discovered until 1973, when a group of University of Hawai`i students conducting research on the east slope of Haleakala sighted a bird they had never seen before. It was named “po`ouli,” which means black head in Hawaiian, by Mary Kawena Puku`i, a renowned authority on Hawaiian culture. Biologists say its quiet and infrequent call makes it much more difficult to find than more vocal species such as the Maui parrotbill.
Contacts: Jolie Wanger, DOFAW, 808 587 4188
Barbara Maxfield, USFWS, 808 792 9530
Christina Simmons, ZSSD, 619 685 3291
September 2004 Update on the Po'ouli Translocation
Rare poouli captured on slopes of Haleakala
By Valerie Monson Staff Writer
From the Maui News, September 11th 2004
Check out their website at:
http://www.mauinews.com/
"WAILUKU - One of the last three poouli known to exist has been captured in the forest
of the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve, giving ornithologists hope they can save the species that hangs on the brink
of extinction. "We're smiling a lot," said Kirsty Swinnerton, project coordinator for the Maui Forest
Bird Recovery Project in Olinda who accompanied the rare
female honeycreeper on a helicopter journey from the forest Friday morning. "And now we're really motivated
to get the other two. One is no good on her own - she needs a mate." So this is only the first hurdle in the
mission to save the poouli - possibly the rarest bird in the world - and breed them in captivity. Already, said
Swinnerton, the rest of the team at Hanawi was preparing to move camp to the region frequented by the only male.
Another female also remains at large. Not everyone agrees with the strategy, believing that the birds - members
of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family - should be allowed to enjoy their lives freely in their preferred habitat
and die naturally. Swinnerton knows those arguments and understands them, but admits that it's still hard not to
do everything to keep the species going. Alan Lieberman - avian conservation coordinator for the Zoological Society
of San Diego's Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, which operates the Maui Bird Conservation Center
- takes the responsibility seriously. "Establishing a breeding pair of poouli may be the most challenging
task we've ever attempted," he said.
The female - she hasn't been named yet, but she probably will be - was captured at 4:20 p.m. Thursday in a mist net strung up on poles in parts of the forest where she had been observed. Weather conditions, which can be miserable at Hanawi on the slopes of Haleakala, were perfect: cloudy to conceal the fine weave of the net and cool so the bird would remain active. "We'd actually seen a lot of her in the last two to three weeks," said Swinnerton. "It was better for setting up the net because we could follow the pattern of her movements." Swinnerton and her team have been making periodic attempts at capturing the birds for the last 18 months. Ironically, the capture happened on the first day of the most recent trip. Once the poouli was trapped, she was transferred to a cloth cage that was placed in a special tent equipped with monitors next to the crew's cabin. "She was amazingly calm, but she was having a good nip at them (as she was moved)," said Swinnerton. "She's a strong little thing." Because the poouli made it comfortably through the night, the decision was made to fly her down the following morning. Swinnerton said Pacific Helicopters picked them up at 7 a.m. and just made it out before the clouds overwhelmed the forest as they so frequently do. The bird was taken to the conservation center in Olinda where she was placed in quarantine to acclimate to her new, more restrictive surroundings. Gradually, she will be moved into bigger cages.
The poouli were first identified in 1973 by a group of University of Hawaii students who couldn't believe their eyes. Based on fossil evidence, the birds' ancestors are thought to have lived in other parts of Maui, including the dryland forests that once flourished on the southwestern slope of Haleakala. Hawaiian-language expert Mary Kawena Pukui christened the bird with its name because of its black "Lone Ranger" mask. This is the second time the poouli has been captured. In fact, all three were caught in 1997 and banded, but released because there was still hope they would mate in the wild. That never happened, leading experts to believe the only chance at saving the species was to attempt breeding in captivity. Because of all the complications of getting the poouli off the mountain, Swinnerton said she and the five other members of the team never got to rejoice. "They're coming out of the field next week so we'll probably get together then," she said. Until that happens, they'll most likely be flying high on their own."
Biologists trap bird in species-saving effort
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
Check out the Honolulu Advertiser website at:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/
Posted on: Saturday, September 11, 2004
"A team of biologists yesterday brought into captivity one of the world's last three known po'ouli, the masked Hawaiian forest bird that has eluded capture for the past two years. Biologists have captured one of three known po'ouli still in the wild; they hope to capture the remaining two birds and establish a captive breeding population. The team will be back in the Hanawi forest of Maui next week to try to catch a second bird, and it hopes eventually to bring all three into captivity to establish a captive breeding population that will prevent the species' extinction. The last-ditch, hands-on effort follows years of failure to get the two females and male po'ouli to breed in the wild. The efforts have included aggressive control of rats and other predators, and such fanciful measures as catching a female and delivering it to the male's territory. The female promptly flew home, and it's possible the two never met. With only three known birds remaining, each in its own separate habitat, state and federal wildlife officials decided to take the drastic step of bringing them into captivity. "It's a bold attempt to rescue this bird from what we think is certain extinction," said Scott Fretz, state forest bird biologist.
Crews from the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project have been taking helicopter field trips into Maui's remote Hanawi 'ohi'a forest since February 2003, hanging delicate mist nets between the trees in attempts to catch the birds. One problem has been that po'ouli are among the most difficult of Hawaiian forest birds to spot, both because of their muted coloring of brownish backs, pale bellies and a black head, and because they are relatively quiet. Another problem for the capture team is that all three individuals have been caught before, when they were banded and released, and they seem wary of the nets. But on Thursday at about 4:20 p.m., one of the birds, a female believed to be about 7 years old, flew into a net. She tried to bite her captors, but seemed otherwise unperturbed, said Kirsty Swinnerton, coordinator of the project. "She was quite feisty, but pretty calm and pretty relaxed. She seems in really good condition, and she was eating within minutes of being placed in a cloth cage," Swinnerton said. The readiness to eat and lack of obvious indication of stress are viewed as hopeful signs. Biologists fed the bird grubs and mealworms, as well as the po'ouli's favorite food, native succineid snails, which the team quickly collected off nearby plants. Yesterday morning, the female was brought out of the forest by helicopter and delivered to the Maui Bird Conservation Center at Olinda, which is operated with state and federal funding by the San Diego Zoological Society's Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species.
The recovery team will be back in the forest in about a week to try to capture the second female. For now, they are leaving the lone male alone because he had become leery of humans. They hope that after a period of relative peace, he'll be easier to catch. The San Diego Zoo has experienced success with breeding several related Hawaiian forest birds, but the po'ouli will be a challenge, both because it is genetically quite distinct from most of the other Hawaiian honeycreepers and because there are so few to work with. "Establishing a breeding pair of po'ouli may be the most challenging task we've ever attempted. We have successfully bred several Hawaiian bird species, including the 'alala, puaiohi and palila, and even reintroduced them into the wild, but to start off with only three birds, all of which are at least 6 years old, just increases the difficulties," said Alan Lieberman, the zoo's avian conservation coordinator."
A detailed account of the Po'ouli can be found by Clicking Here.
December 2004 Update on the Po'ouli Translocation
Bird may have been last of kind
By Jaymes Song, Associated Press
"One of the rarest birds on Earth came closer to being wiped out — if not already extinct — with the death of one of the last three believed to exist, officials said. The remaining two po'ouli have not been seen in months, leaving the species' survival in doubt. The male po'ouli bird died in captivity late Friday on Maui, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said yesterday. "This species was a unique part of Earth's history," said Eric VanderWerf, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Hawaiian bird recovery coordinator. "We'll never have another one like it if it disappears. I kind of liken it in some way to the loss of the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel. If we lost that, we could never get it back. We can never get another one." The rare Hawaiian honeycreeper had been kept at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda since it was captured for breeding on Sept. 9. Biologists failed to capture a mate for the aging bird, which was found in the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve. The remaining two po'ouli, believed to be a male and a female, haven't been seen for nearly a year. They might have died, moved to another area or been missed by wildlife officials. Even if the two birds are located, they still must be caught and successfully bred. It is also uncertain if the birds are male and female. But biologists aren't giving up hope.
The state, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Zoological Society of San Diego, which operates the Maui conservation center, launched a search yesterday to find the remaining two po'ouli in the remote rainforests of Maui. "There's so many things going against this effort that (the death) makes it all very much more desperate, but no one is giving up on it," said Alan Lieberman, the Zoological Society's avian conservation coordinator. "As long as there's a chance that there are two, a male and female, no one is willing to throw in the towel."
The po'ouli is part of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family and is so unique it has its own genus. It was not discovered until 1973, when a group of University of Hawai'i students conducting research on the east slope of Haleakala volcano sighted a bird they had never seen before. It is the only Hawaiian forest bird to rely heavily on native tree snails as its food. The small, stocky, brown bird has a partial black face described as a bandit's mask. It is possible the po'ouli that died Friday was the last one, making it one of the rare opportunities where scientists were able to document the moment a species became extinct. "This unfortunately is an opportunity for people to say, 'I know the hour, the day, the hour, the minute, the second, it went extinct,' "Lieberman said. "That is a sobering moment." Tissue samples from the bird were saved for cryogenic preservation for possible cloning in the future. "Someday, when technology catches up with our fantasies, we may be able to resurrect the po'ouli because we saved these cells," Lieberman said.
The po'ouli's numbers have dwindled from a rough estimate of 150 because of habitat loss and introduced predators like rats, cats and mongooses. Nonnative diseases carried by mosquitos, such as avian malaria, have also taken a toll on the Hawaiian birds. The po'ouli that recently died contracted avian malaria, but the exact cause of death won't be known until tests from the necropsy are completed. Despite the bird's death, capturing it was the right decision, scientists said. It was old and missing one eye, compromising its ability to survive in the wild."
Dark day for poor Po'o-uli
Birdlife International
03-12-2004
"Another of Hawaii's native bird species has taken a step closer to extinction with the death in captivity of possibly the last Po'o-uli left on the planet. The Po'o-uli Melamprosops phaeosoma belongs to one of the world's most threatened bird families – the Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanididae). The species was only discovered in 1973, in Maui's Ko`olau Forest Reserve. Even then its population was estimated at fewer than 200 individuals. In 1995, only five to seven birds were known but and by mid-1997 just three individuals could be found, each with distinct home ranges in Hanawi Natural Area Reserve and the immediately adjacent Haleakala National Park. In common with many other native Hawaiian birds it is thought that habitat loss and degradation (often by invasive feral pigs), and the rapid spread of introduced mosquitoes carrying diseases such as avian malaria (to which native birds have little resistance), contributed to the species' massive decline. "The tragic death of this bird means that we may now be too late to prevent the addition of Po'o-uli to the depressingly long list of recent extinctions in Hawaii. It should serve as a wake-up call to redouble our efforts to save Hawaii's threatened species, in particular the 12 species listed as Critically Endangered." —Dr Stuart Butchart, Global Species Programme Coordinator, BirdLife International. In 2002, one of the remaining individuals was caught and released within the territory of another, in an attempt to get the two to breed. However, the translocated bird did not remain in the area. Captive breeding efforts began in 2003, when members of the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project attempted to locate and trap all remaining birds. One bird was finally captured on September 9 2004, but sadly this individual – possibly the last of its kind – died on November 28 2004. The only remaining hope for the species is that new individuals can be found elsewhere on the island (unlikely) or that the other two birds can be located, taken into captivity and bred successfully. Given the age these birds must be if still alive – and the fact that researchers are not even sure of their sex – the chances of this happening seem remote.
"Hawaii's bird extinction crisis is a global tragedy that is largely being ignored. That the world's wealthiest nation is allowing bird extinctions to continue, largely unchecked, in its own back yard is unconscionable." —Dr George H Fenwick, President, American Bird Conservancy. As a result it seems that the Po'o-uli looks set to soon join the thirteen other unlucky extinct members of its family, along with many other Hawaiian endemic landbirds that now can only be found as skins in museums. A further seven species of Hawaiian honeycreeper are classified as Critically Endangered, with another endemic landbird, the Hawaiian Crow, now officially considered to be Extinct in the Wild with a few birds clinging-on in captivity."
A detailed account of the Po'ouli can be found by Clicking Here.
