12/20/23 – ONE BIRD’S STORY OF HOPE LIFTS THE SPIRITS OF CONSERVATIONISTS TRYING TO SAVE ITS ENTIRE SPECIES
Posted on Dec 20, 2023 in Main, News Releases, slider
| JOSH GREEN, M.D. GOVERNOR |
DAWN CHANG |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 20, 2023
ONE BIRD’S STORY OF HOPE LIFTS THE SPIRITS OF CONSERVATIONISTS TRYING TO SAVE ITS ENTIRE SPECIES
Click on picture to view video
(NAKULA NATURAL AREA RESERVE, MAUI) – Remarkably, a single kiwikiu, a Hawaiian honeycreeper, its species on the verge of extinction, continues to defy the chances and will present necessary clues as to how he has survived lethal avian malaria, when many birds uncovered to the mosquito-borne illness perish.
In the autumn of 2019, following the translocation of a gaggle of seven wild kiwikiu from the Hanawī Natural Area Reserve on the northeast aspect of Haleakalā to the Nakula Natural Area Reserve on the southwest aspect, the hen dubbed MAPA1 was the one one left. All the remaining died of malaria.
It was believed the upper elevation Nakula space could be freed from mosquitoes, and actually, surveys simply earlier than the birds’ releases confirmed that to be true. Unfortunately, and really shortly, the accelerated tempo of local weather change and hotter temperatures introduced the scourge of avian malaria to what was speculated to be their new home.
In July 2021, practically two years after conservationists believed all of the birds had died, Zach Pezzillo was with a gaggle at Nakula on a tree-planting journey. “It was just me and a colleague talking and resting and suddenly, we heard a kiwikiu. Both of us sat and listened. Sure enough, we heard it again, it was singing. I grabbed my binoculars and by looking at its leg bands I was able to confirm it was MAPA1, who hadn’t been seen in about two years and was believed to be dead.”
Fast ahead to this fall’s subject season when crews had been again in Hanawī to once more catch birds and study extra about illness prevalence within the space. Laura Berthold, avian subject crew supervisor with the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project stated, “We were surprised when we started tracking a bird with the same leg band color combination of MAPA1. We weren’t sure if it was him or not because he had a combination where one color band was missing. There were at least three individuals he could have been.”
In early November, because the workforce arrange mist nets on a ridge to catch birds, they caught MAPA1. “I was very, very excited and happy because we were finally going to figure out the mystery of this individual bird. It must have been quite a journey for him. Kiwikiu are small and they’re very good flyers but typically they spend their lives at one spot on the mountain. He must have had that homing mechanism to go back to where he was from to find a mate and reproduce,” Berthold stated.
More excellent news, as earlier than his seize, MAPA1 was seen with a feminine who did produce offspring this yr. “He was doing his duty to his species and passing on his really strong genes, so that’s exciting that he’s back to his home and able to reproduce and continue his life,” Berthold commented.
Pezzillo, who has moved from the hen aspect of conservation to the plant aspect added, “We were surprised about where he was spotted and immediately wondered what that journey from one side of this massive mountain to the other would have been for him. Did he fly through Haleakalā Crater, or did he go around and stop in Manawainui or Kīpahulu and meet some friends on his way back to Hanawī. It would be cool to know how he did that.”
Researchers took a blood pattern and performed a well being evaluation on MAPA1 earlier than releasing him again into his unique home. Information from these checks might reveal what this hen has that the others didn’t, which resulted in him seemingly surviving avian malaria. “There will be some answers to our questions when we get the blood test results back. It will confirm whether he did have malaria and is continuing to survive it. We have seen individual Hawaiian honeycreepers survive the disease. It’s just the majority of these individuals aren’t surviving, and that’s the problem,” Berthold concluded.
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RESOURCES
(All photographs/video courtesy: DLNR)
HD video – Interviews with Laura Berthold and Zach Pezzillo (Nov. 30, 2023):
HD video – Kiwikiu captures and translocation, Hanawī Natural Area Reserve (Oct. 2019:
Photographs – MAPA1 re-capture, Hanawī Natural Area Reserve (Nov. 2023):
Photographs – MAPA1 seize, Hanawī Natural Area Reserve (October 2019):
Media Contact:
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