Another ʻAkikiki has been recovered from the forest, deep within the ʻAlakai Plateau. The ʻAkikiki rescue missions began last December when it was discovered that only a handful of ʻAkikiki remain in the wild.
KFBRP Leader, Dr. Lisa “Cali” Crampton, was recently featured on BBC Earth Witness: Voices from the Conservation Front Line. In the interview (see video above), Cali explains why she (and the rest of the KFBRP staff) is so passionate about saving Kauaʻi’s forest birds and how KFBRP is tackling this challenge.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), a significant amount of federal funding will be sent to Hawaiʻi to help address the extinction crisis facing at least four species of native Hawaiian birds, including Kauaʻi’s ʻakikiki and ʻakekeʻe.
In the first feature of Forests for Life, KHON2 covers the grim future of Hawaiian honeycreepers, which are facing imminent extinction without significant intervention. In the video below, you will learn what KFBRP is doing to save the ‘akikiki.
A few weeks ago staff members, Hannah Landwerlen and Evan checked a Puaiohi nest that they have been monitoring in the Alaka’i and found that the nestling and the female were killed by a predator. When Field Leader, Justin Hite first started this job in 2015, he went to check that same nest and also found the female torn to pieces. These kind of events are particularly hard for the staff at KFBRP, because their positions here are way more than just jobs.
In a recent DLNR Press release (below) and news conference (video below), experts discuss the extinction crisis faced by some of Hawai’i’s rarest forest birds. A report was presented to decision makers offering a selection of actions to address the current crisis. Also included in the report are conservation strategies for other species. Experts warn that if no action is taken four species of forest birds would face extinction within 1-10 years and as many as 11 additional extinctions would occur in the next decade.
Hawaii Invasive Species Awareness Month is an event designed to raise awareness of the impacts of invasive species while also recognizing the work being done to protect against them. HISAM is hosted by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), with both agencies serving as co-leads of the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council (HISC).
The Winter 2021 Newsletter is now available.
Extinction is one of those things that happens very slowly at first, and then all of a sudden a species is gone forever.