Wings and Woodland – A Tribute to Native Birds and Forests – RSVP and SIGN UP
/in Blog, News/by Julia DiegmannYOU ARE INVITED! Wings and Woodland – A Tribute to Native Birds and Forests
Forest Bird Art Exhibit with Special Events
Date: November 2-8
Location: KSA Gallery at Kukui Grove Center
Opening Hours: 11/2 9am-3pm, 11/3 12pm-6:30PM, 11/4 12pm-6:30pm 11/5 12pm-6pm, 11/6 10am-6:30pm, 11/7 10am -6pm, Nov 8 Art Pick-up by 3pm
Join us as we celebrate the beauty of our native birds and forests. These events will take place at the KSA Gallery at Kukui Grove Center
REGISTER NOW!
Opening Reception:
Date: November 1st Time: 6:00 PM Cost: FREE
Refreshments will be provided.
Documentary Showings of Vanishing Voices: Saving our Hawaiian Forest Birds (during the Community Climate Fair)
Date: November 2rd Time: 11am, 12&1pm Location: near the food court Cost: FREE
Plants for the Birds: Native Plant Show & Tell with NTBG
Date: November 3rd Time: 1-3pm Location: KSA Gallery Cost: FREE
FREE plant for all attendees! LIMITED SEATING,
Mana I Ke Mele Kāhea – Power Of The Calling Song
Date: November 3rd Time: 4-6:30pm Location: KSA Gallery Cost: FREE
Presented by ‘Ōiwi Artist and Kumu Hula Kēhaulani Kekua
LIMITED SEATING,
Culture to Canvas- Make your own native bird art!
Date. November 4rd and November 6th Time: 4-6:30pm Location: KSA Gallery Cost: $50/$55
LIMITED SEATING,
Kahili Pa’a Lima Workshop
ART SUBMISSIONS DUE 10/25. Submission guidelines here.
Invitation to Documentary Screening: “Vanishing Voices – Saving Our Hawaiian Forest Birds” with Expert Panel Discussion
/in Blog, Events, News/by Julia DiegmannWings of the Alakaʻi: A Puaiohi’s Brave First Flight
/in Blog/by Julia DiegmannAERIAL WAR AGAINST BIRD-KILLING MOSQUITOES ON KAUA‘I AND MAUI
/in Blog, News/by Julia DiegmannKAUA‘I FOREST BIRD PROTECTION AWARDED GRANTS TO RESEARCH AVIAN MALARIA IN HAWAIIAN HONEYCREEPERS
/in Blog, News/by Julia Diegmann(HONOLULU) – The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has announced a $644,758 grant to the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP) to support on-the-ground efforts in its battle against avian malaria. The grant was awarded Tuesday.
A like amount of grant funding was also awarded to the University of Hawai‘i and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for continued research to improve mosquito breeding to create non-viable offspring to reduce the disease transmission to Hawaiian honeycreeper forest birds.
Dr. Lisa ‘Cali’ Crampton, KFBRP Program Manager said, “We are very excited to be involved in this effort to use top-notch science to help us advance conservation of critically endangered forest bird species through reduction of mosquito-borne disease. Funding from the Partnership to Advance Conservation and Practice (PACSP) program will allow KFBRP to better monitor and refine the application and efficacy of a new tool, the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT), to suppress mosquitoes in Hawaiian forest bird habitat.”
This research is one of 10 projects receiving funding under the PACSP program, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the NSF and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Now in its second year, the program is designed to catalyze deep collaboration between researchers advancing basic science and conservation partners engaging in on-the-ground conservation.
The projects focus on a range of species, from Hawaiian honeycreepers to grizzly bears and Venus flytraps. The outcomes will have far-reaching implications for biodiversity and conservation, policy, and the economy.
“The fundamental knowledge these projects create, even though related to specific species, will unlock innovative conservation efforts across a broader range of threatened species and ecosystems,” said Lara Littlefield, executive director for programs and partnerships at the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. “For instance, studying whether mosquitoes infected with bacteria can limit the spread of malaria among birds in Hawaii could ultimately limit disease spread among other animals more broadly.”
Each project extends basic science into on-the-ground conservation to address critical knowledge and data gaps, enabling greater real-world impact to benefit species and ecosystems.
“The unique partnerships this program creates forge a roadmap to broader conservation action by uniting the skills, expertise and tools needed to address the most urgent threats to our natural world,” said Susan Marqusee, NSF assistant director for biological sciences. “These projects also will engage the public, policymakers, law enforcement and others in conservation through education, outreach and other broader impacts.”
David Smith, DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) Administrator commented, “This grant builds on the strong multi-partner collaboration already in place to combat avian malaria as the single-largest threat facing native forest birds, like the honeycreepers. Every little bit helps, particularly currently, when we are facing the strong likelihood of one or more species of honeycreepers going extinct in the very near future.”
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RESOURCES
(All images/video courtesy: DLNR)
HD video – ‘Akikiki egg collection, Kaua‘i (May 10-11, 2023):
Photographs – ‘Akikiki egg collection, Kaua‘i (May 10-11, 2023):
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ub9d8rq35b1zu4z/AACSUGGUfBdknMOC_iK9ea8Aa?st=2rdp779x&dl=0
Learn more about the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice program and view the full list of awards and awardees: https://www.nsf.gov/
Media Contact:
Dan Dennison
Communications Director
808-587-0396
Birds, Not Mosquitoes Partnership Receives Hawaiʻi Conservation Innovation Award
/in Blog, News/by Julia DiegmannThe Birds, Not Mosquitoes (BNM) partnership received the Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance’s (HCA) Conservation Innovation Award on July 31 during the 31st annual Hawai‘i Conservation Conference in Honolulu. The award recognizes new technologies or techniques used in conservation activities that lead to significant advances to the structure or nature of environmental conservation in Hawai‘i. In choosing BNM for the award, HCA noted the speed, cooperation, strategic thinking, and community engagement that characterizes this unique alliance of federal, state, and nongovernmental organizations.
“The Birds, Not Mosquitoes coalition has shown exemplary collaboration that embodies the collective spirit and innovation needed to tackle Hawaiʻi’s toughest conservation challenges,” said Emma Anders, HCA Director. “Thanks to their teamwork and application of cutting-edge science, we are now giving native forest birds a chance at survival. This award is especially significant as it is taking place during Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele, the Year of the Forest Birds.”
Each of the BNM partners have been working to restore habitat and combat non-native mosquitoes and avian disease, but the rapid collapse of four bird species — the ʻAkikiki and ʻAkekeʻe on Kauaʻi and the Kiwikiu and ʻĀkohekohe on Maui — catalyzed the formation of the partnership focused on suppressing mosquito populations to stop avian malaria from killing them. Since its inception in 2017, the BNM team has collaborated to develop and safely deploy an innovative tool called the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT). While IIT has been used safely around the world for mosquito-borne diseases that affect human health, this is its first application for conservation.
Following years of rigorous study, analysis, and technological innovation, BNM has successfully and safely conducted releases over the last eight months of more than 15 million nonbiting, infertile male mosquitos across several thousand acres in remote conservation areas on Haleakalā, Maui. Planning is underway to begin deployment over a few thousand acres of remote forests on the Alaka‘i Plateau, Kauaʻi in early 2025.
This work could not have been accomplished without funding support from the Department of Interior’s Hawaiian Forest Bird Conservation Keystone Initiative, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and substantial additional funding from the State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is also a major supporter, along with several private foundations, private donors, and nonprofit organizations.
The BNM partnership includes the following organizations:
- American Bird Conservancy
- Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species
- Island Conservation
- Hawaiʻi Department of Health
- Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources
- Kauaʻi Forest Bird Recovery Project
- Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project
- National Park Service
- The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra
- University of Hawaiʻi
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- U.S. Geological Survey
The Last ‘Akikiki
/in Blog, News/by MonikaPAYING HOMAGE TO THE LAST ‘AKIKIKI IN THE WILD
Dr. Lisa “Cali” Crampton was featured on KITV, after the following DLNR press release was by Dan Dennison:
When a group of men hiked into a remote mountain valley in April, they knew it could be the last time they saw an ‘akikiki in the wild.
“This was kind of a trip to say goodbye. ‘Akikiki are down to at most, a handful of individuals, maybe even fewer,” said Justin Hite, a longtime field supervisor for the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP), now working on mosquito control planning with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
“What do you do at the end of a species? They don’t take any solace from us coming to visit. It was much more about us wanting to be able to say goodbye and to get around them one last time,” Hite added.
Once numbering in the thousands in the stunning valleys and ridges of native forest, their decline in recent years has been predicted and precipitous.
Just when the broad collaboration of government agencies, nonprofits, and countless individuals seemed to be making inroads in protecting the birds from predators like cats and rats, avian malaria upset the equation. Global warming has forced disease-carrying mosquitoes to the higher elevation habitats of the ‘akikiki and other Hawaiian honeycreepers. One by one the deadly disease has picked them off.
“That is the tragedy, right?” asks Dr. Lisa “Cali” Crampton of the KFBRP. “We are seeing this climate disaster, so I apologize (to the ‘akikiki) for what we have done as people. I do want the ‘akikiki to know that we really appreciated getting to know them. You know, were it not for this crisis, I don’t think people would have gotten to know ‘akikiki as well as we have and come to love them as well as we have.”
Their plight has reached far and wide. School children in India named an asteroid after ‘akikiki.
During the recent trip, the team kept an eye out for one female bird, named Pakele. Hite said, “We met her in 2020 and she was exceptional from the start.” In Hawaiian, Pakele means to escape. Three seasons in a row she had successful nests, possibly while being infected with malaria. “She’s like, it doesn’t affect me. She’s kind of this incredible individual.”
For more than a decade, field teams forged personal connections with the birds by naming them and instantly knowing who they were from their multi-colored leg bands.
“This is much harder to talk about than I thought it was going to be. Just recapturing the emotions that we felt, as we know these birds. In my case I spent ten breeding seasons up on the Alaka‘i,” Hite added.
The spiritual connection, as Crampton describes it, is one layer of the extinction of the ‘akikiki. “That’s represented now by one bird like Pakele still being out in the wild. That’s enormously important to my staff. I think it’s enormously important to the public and to cultural practitioners who look at Pakele as representing the hope we have, because she just keeps going. Hopefully she’ll find a mate. Even though they cannot sustain a wild population, they can sustain our hope and that’s critical at this juncture.”
Despite the existence of one, two, or three birds remaining in the wild, the species is considered functionally extinct. The best and only chance for a viable future lies with captive ‘akikiki at bird conservation centers operated by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Perhaps one day, after the threat of avian malaria is stamped out, ‘akikiki can be released back into the high plateau, mountains, and deep valleys of Kaua‘i.
“We did our best, given our knowledge and the available science,” Crampton said. “I want us to understand that we’re all in this together. The fate of all these species is collectively the responsibility of humans everywhere in this world. It is our actions that have led to the situation our planet is in. I’d like everyone to just champion the environment wherever they are.”
LĪHUʻE AIRPORT WINDOW DISPLAY HIGHLIGHTS NATIVE FOREST BIRDS
/in Blog/by Julia Diegmann(LĪHUʻE, KAUA‘I) – A display in the Līhuʻe Airport is showcasing the unique wildlife found on Kaua‘i and the threats it faces from invasive species.
The Garden Island Arts Council teamed up with Hallux Ecosystem Restoration, LLC, to create the large window display. As part of the ‘Year of the Forest Birds’ (ka Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele), models and photos of Kaua‘i’s endemic birds and plants illustrate information about the uniqueness of these species, and the many local groups working to save them.
“I feel the connection to the birds in the forest is really an important part that everybody that lives here and visits here should really understand. They are like our messengers to tell us the health of the forest and to just be the indicator of things that are changing. They’re the ones that seem to be the most impacted,” said Kat Ho of the Garden Island Arts Council.
The exhibit also educates viewers about invasive species putting the birds at risk. “In this display we highlight feral goats, feral pigs, feral cats, along with the variety of invasive plant species like strawberry guava, banana poka, blackberry and Himalayan ginger, the list goes on and on,” said Aliana Ho of Hallux Ecosystem Restoration. “A lot of folks are saying that they didn’t know that these species were not native to Hawai‘i, a lot of folks are saying that they’re really grateful for this information and they wish it was in more places, or that it was in every airport.”
A scannable QR code encourages people to interact and provide feedback about what they learned. The responses reflect a high level of engagement so far.
“Each of our islands has endemic species, bird species, that are only found on this specific island. And one of the things that I really would like visitors and residents that come here looking at this display to learn is how special this is, and how unique this is,” said Dr. Julia Diegmann planner at Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project. “They are important for the forest. They have ecosystem functions. They are important for the culture here in Hawai‘i. To me this is really, really important because it shows us how important and special they are and how much they are a part of the essence that makes Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi.”
BLESSING FOR THE START OF FOREST BIRD FIELD SEASON ON KAUA‘I 2024 is The Year of The Forest Birds
/in Blog/by Julia Diegmann(KŌKE‘E STATE PARK, KAUA‘I) –A muddy and weary team from the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP), arrived here in time for the annual blessing of the field season for conservationists working against the clock to save numerous species of Hawaiian Honeycreepers from extinction.
For more than a decade, the hālau from Ka ʻImi Naʻauao O Hawaiʻi Nei Institute have performed ‘oli and chants to kick off the annual forest bird field season. Kumu Keahi Manea commented prior to last Friday’s blessing, “We made the commitment years ago and we’ve learned a lot about the birds we didn’t know. They’ve learned a lot about hula, and chant, and mele, and things Hawaiian they didn’t know. They inspired us to create new ‘oli, mele, songs, and hula. We love doing it.”
Tyler Winter, a field crew leader with KFBRP, spent the first four-day long field excursion with a team doing predator control work and bird captures. The teams are trying to bring as many of the extremely endangered birds into safety as possible, while efforts to control avian malaria-carrying mosquitos ramp up. Once the disease threat is under control the hope is to return honeycreeper species to the wild, like the remote mountainous areas in the Kōke‘e, Waimea Canyon, Alaka‘i Plateau regions of Kaua‘i.
“I think it’s important to have these blessings. As the populations of these birds diminish and we must go further and further into the field to access them, so much of our time is spent in the field, we don’t have much time to interact with people. Being at a blessing like this is super important, because it’s one of the few times we get to see the impacts these birds have on people and their important cultural significance. It also helps with our new hires we take into the field to have them see the engagement that’s going on with the forest birds.
On Friday’s blessing day, KFBRP and the Kaua‘i Invasive Species Committee (KISC) had outreach and education displays set up under tents, along with experts to answer visitors’ questions.
Kim Rogers of KISC said, that while her organization typically deals with issues like Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD), there’s a clear nexus between forest health and biodiversity and the plight of Hawai‘i’s forest birds.
“When people think about fauna in our forests, they think about our precious forest birds. ʻŌhiʻa and the forest birds have a very reciprocal relationship in that the trees provide homes, food, and nectar. In return the forest birds help pollinate ʻōhiʻa lehua. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. You can’t have one or talk about one without having the other.”
The hālau performed several original mele, including one that describes the beauty and characteristics of several at-risk species like, ‘akikiki and kiwikiu, two of the honeycreepers expected to completely disappear from Hawaiian forests imminently.
Governor Josh Green, M.D. and Kaua‘i Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami have both proclaimed Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele, The Year of the Forest Birds. That recognition along with Friday’s blessing is giving encouragement and hope to the teams working to save the birds.
Winter explained, “This season is going to be really cool. We’ll be traveling a lot across the Alaka‘i Plateau. Last season we did a really focused recovery effort for the ‘akikiki, as such we spent a lot of time in areas that we knew were good habitat and high quality for those birds. This year we’re doing more of a survey of the entire plateau. The dream would be if there are ‘akikiki still out there or other pockets of endangered species we’ll be able to encounter them and hopefully gain more information on how to protect them.”
All the researchers and conservationists involved in forest bird recovery projects, especially on Kaua‘i and Maui say they are realistic but hopeful. To work in conservation and to protect these species you have to be hopeful. We’ll have keen eyes and ears out for them. That’s what we’ll be doing this year.”
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RESOURCES
(All images/video courtesy: DLNR)
HD video – Kaua‘i forest bird field season blessing (March 1, 2024):
https://vimeo.com/919279997?share=copy
(Shot sheet/transcriptions attached)
HD video – Ka ʻImi Naʻauao O Hawaiʻi Nei full mele and hula (March 1, 2024)
https://vimeo.com/919283327?share=copy
(Recorded as live)
Photographs – Kauaʻi forest bird field season blessing (March 1, 2024):
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/0lf0zs955ss6n7ls8qftr/h?rlkey=t7dt4vm55gwvz1g2vvexndant&dl=0
Media Contact:
Dan Dennison
Communications Director
808-587-0396