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Po'ouli - Endangered!The Po'ouli is quite possibly the rarest bird in the world. It was only discovered in 1973 by University of Hawaii students in the wet montane forest of the East Maui Watershed. Fossil evidence shows that these birds once inhabited the drier leeward side of Haleakala. Po'ouli are cryptic birds with quiet songs and calls. Though the numbers of Po'ouli on Maui have not been high (some scientists estimated about 140 in the early 1980s) the population has been in steady decline since its discovery. Surveys in 1994-1995 discovered 6 Po'ouli at 4 locations. Surveys from 1997 to the present have shown only 3 birds at three separate locations. These remaining 3 birds were color banded and released in 1997-1998. In 2001-2002 efforts to capture and translocate a female Po'ouli to a male Po'ouli's homerange were successfully carried out by the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project. Although the translocated Po'ouli flew back home the following day, researchers garnered valuable information, enabling them to formulate a plan for captive breeding. On September 9, 2004 one of the Po'ouli was captured and brought to the Maui Bird Conservation Center for captive breeding. Sadly, this individual died from malaria on November 26, 2004. The two remaining Po'ouli, believed to be a male and a female, have not been observed for over a year. "It was very sad news and it's certainly a serious blow for the recovery for this species," said Eric VanderWerf the Fish and Wildlife Service's Hawaiian bird recovery coordinator. "The chances of success were low to begin with because we only had three birds. Now we only have two. We'll never have another one like it if it disappears. I kind of liken it in some way to the loss of the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel. If we lost that, we could never get it back. We can never get another one." |
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