Hawaiʻi birds

We've got the pretty but pesky red-whiskered bulbul for today's Manu Minute! The recordings you'll hear are courtesy of Xeno Canto and should sound familiar to our Oʻahu listeners.

This weekend, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Manu O Kū Festival. The Conversation spoke with Rich Downs of Hui Manu-O-Kū and Keith Swindle, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Audubon Society, about the significance of this endearing seabird that has thrived on Oʻahu.

We’ve got another game bird for you on this week’s Manu Minute — the chukar partridge!

Of the four types of doves that call Hawaiʻi home, mourning doves are the rarest. We have their calls today, courtesy of Xeno Canto.

Whether you find yourself looking for a pause in your day or the sounds of nature calm you, HPR's Manu Minute brings you melodies straight from Hawaiʻi's native forests and shorelines. Host Patrick Hart also leads the LOHE Bioacoustics Lab at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.

We first reported the story of Eric-Preston Hamren. He was two months shy of permanent status at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — he got the bad news on Valentine's Day. HPR met him back in December at Beginner Bird School, which he runs as a volunteer.

The National Wildlife Disease Program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture works to monitor diseases avian flu. The Conversation talked to Julianna Lenoch, the program coordinator, about the latest outbreak.

The detection of avian flu at the Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant is another sign that the disease is spreading in Hawaiʻi. The Conversation talked to Jason Omick, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

The oldest-known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of 74, her first in four years. The Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a Facebook post that the long-winged seabird named Wisdom has returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what may be her 60th egg.

Conservationists say five Hawaiian crows have been released on Maui for the first time as part of an ongoing effort to return the species to its home. Officials with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance say the ʻalalā were released on Maui on Tuesday.