Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 5, 1 May 2015 — Endangered birds hatch in captivity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Endangered birds hatch in captivity

Conservation biologists are keeping a close watch over six recent hatchlings of the critically endangered 'akikiki at San Diego Zoo Global's facilities in Hawai'i. Eggs of the 'akikiki as well as akeke'e, two honeycreeper species found only on Kaua'i, were collected from the wild to start a breeding population in captivity to save the species from extinction. They are threatened by avian malaria and other introduced diseases, loss of native forest habitat, hurricanes and the introduction of non-native predator species in the wild.

Both species have shown "steep declines over the past 10 to 15 years, and now number fewer than 1,000 birds eaeh," said John Vetter, forest bird recovery coordinator of the state Department of Land and Natural Resource's Forestry and Wildlife Division. DLNR is involved in the effort with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, San Diego Zoo Global and the Kaua'i Forest Bird Recovery Project. Since early March, KFBRP team members have spent hundreds of hours searching the dense rainforests of Kaua'i's Alaka'i Wilderness Preserve for nests of the two species, said Dr. Lisa "Cali" Crampton, KFBRP project leader. "Both nest on tiny branches at the top of the canopy, about 30 to 40 feet high, and

An 'akikiki ehiek is fed by animal care staff. - Courtesy photo

camouflage their nests as clumps of moss. To reach the nests, KFBRP devised a suspension system for a 40-foot extension ladder." A team of bird experts hiked out with the collected eggs, then took a helicopter to a facility for artificial incubation.