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Manu Minute: The ʻAlae Keʻokeʻo, a Real Coot-ie

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Coot-ie alert!

The endemic ΄Alae ke΄oke΄o, or Hawaiian coot, lives in fresh and brackish wetlands throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

They also favor kalo fields, water reservoirs, and aquaculture ponds. A few adventurous coots even make their home in Lāna‘i City's wastewater treatment ponds.

Though their territory is broad, ΄Alae ke΄oke΄o are still at high risk of habitat loss. The State Department of Land and Natural Resources estimates that we've lost just over 30% of our coastal wetlands in Hawai΄i. Researchers expect that number to grow as a result of climate change, which will further endanger our native waterbirds.

Manu Minute, Hawaiian coot Spectrogram video.mp4

Audio credit: Tim Burr/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (ML236854).

Patrick Hart is the host of HPR's Manu Minute. He runs the Listening Observatory for Hawaiian Ecosystems (LOHE) Lab at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.
Ann Tanimoto-Johnson is the Lab Manager & Research Technician in the Hart Lab/Listening Observatory for Hawaiian Ecosystems (LOHE) Bioacoustics Lab. She researches the ecology, bioacoustics, and conservation of our native Hawaiian forests, birds, and bats.
Savannah Harriman-Pote is the energy and climate change reporter. She is also the lead producer of HPR's "This Is Our Hawaiʻi" podcast. Contact her at sharrimanpote@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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