A tiny Hawaiian honeycreeper, the ‘anianiau, found only on Kaua’i, is now in residence off-exhibit at the Honolulu Zoo.
The population has declined by 65% in the past five years, spurring efforts to build an insurance population of 10 birds at the Honolulu Zoo. The Kaua’i Forest Bird Recovery Project aims to conserve the ‘anianiau — along with other Kauaʻi native forest birds.
Cali Crampton is the project’s leader, and Nicole Suckow is an avian research coordinator who helped capture and transport the ‘anianiau to O'ahu.
"Honolulu Zoo was incredibly receptive because not only did they recently regain their accreditation, they are building a state-of-the-art forest bird building, which is completely mosquito proof and climate controlled, and is the perfect place to launch a project like this," Crampton said.
When out collecting, conservationists have primarily been focusing on age and whether the birds settle well in a cage once brought back to camp. When Crampton and Suckow spoke to HPR, 10 birds had taken several modes of transportation to reach the zoo.
"What the field crew does is hike them to a landing area, where then the birds are taken in a helicopter by one of our trained staff to an area close to the road, where then they can be driven to the house where they're kept for a few days before we take them to Honolulu," Crampton said.
Crampton said the idea is for these birds to form mating pairs and produce offspring. However, she acknowledged that 10 birds are not enough to start a flock. So they also plan to collect eggs from ‘anianiau nests.
"The goal is to collect 30 to 40 ‘anianiau eggs that hopefully will turn into a couple of dozen more ‘anianiau adults, and those ones will go to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's facility on Maui," she said.
Birds could be moved to Honolulu or vice versa to find optimal pairings.
"These conservation breeding programs have kept species from going extinct and have led to situations where they can repopulate their former range, which is the goal with the ‘anianiau," Crampton said.
Since their discussion, the team has captured the two birds they were monitoring and transferred them to the Maui Bird Conservation Center.
HPR also checked with the city to see what steps the Honolulu Zoo may be taking to protect its resident birds from the potential spread of avian flu now that we have our first case out in Wahiawā.
The city said it has closed its walk-in aviary to the public, and the waterfowl that were located at the zoo entrance have been moved to another enclosure. It may also institute additional measures if necessary.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 19, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
