Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 3, 1 March 1993 — Ke ao nani [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ke ao nani

Naturally Hawaiian by Patrick Ching artist/environmentalist

The bird that went unnoticed

High on the slopes of Haleakalā above Hāna, Maui, lives a bird that until recently was unknown to man. The small brown and gray bird with a black mask was discovered in 1973 by a group of University of Hawai'i students who were studying birds in the Hanawī rainforest. Because of its remote location it is probable the bird was unknown to ancient Hawaiians. There is no mention of it in Hawaiian chants, nor is there evidence it was used in Hawaiian

featherwork. The name "po'ouli" was given to the bird by the late Mary Pūku'i. Literally po'ouli means "black head," or, more poetically, "dark forehead." The po'ouli is one of Hawai'i's most endangered species. Since the time of its discovery its population has rapdily plummeted largely as a result of introduced pigs whieh are destroying the understory, or low-growth vegetation, of the po'ouli's critical habitat. Today there are only an estimated 50 birds left.