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PAYING 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.”

 

 

 

 

 

Bird experts give honeycreepers a lifeline while waiting for mosquito birth control

Bird experts on Kauaʻi are using all the tools in their toolbox to keep critically endangered forest birds from going extinct. One honeycreeper species, ʻakikiki, could disappear from the wild this year due to mosquito-borne avian malaria, with another species, ʻakekeʻe, not far behind. Warmer climates in recent years have allowed invasive mosquitoes to move to higher elevations, increasing the risk of disease to native forest birds. While conservation partners wait for final approval of a proposed mosquito birth control, also known as the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT), they are stepping up their use of other, more traditional tools to give the birds a lifeline.

August 8 is legislatively designated as Hawaiian Honeycreeper Day, and it’s the day the team from the Kauaʻi Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP) is taking to the skies to expand use of two naturally-occurring bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (sold commercially as “Dunk”) and Bacillus sphaericus, to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching in the uplands of Kauaʻi.

These bacteria are harmless to humans but deadly to mosquito larvae. They’re found in soil worldwide, and are widely used in organic agriculture and water treatment. While project staff have used Bacillus to control mosquito larvae for years, it has traditionally been applied by hand while hiking across the many streams and valleys of the Alakaʻi wilderness. Adding an aerial approach allows the team to address a larger area and hopefully save more birds.

Dr. Cali Crampton of KFBRP said, “The increased use of Bacillus should provide a stopgap for ʻakeke’e, allowing the species to avoid extinction long enough to benefit from the proposed mosquito birth control tool. Both Bacillus and the IIT birth control use bacteria to suppress mosquitoes. The two tools are separate but work together to address different parts of the mosquito life cycle: the Bacillus bacteria kill mosquito larvae, while different strains of the Wolbachia bacteria used in IIT result in unviable eggs that never hatch into larvae.

While conservation partners are currently focused on helping birds, people should also see benefits from increased efforts to suppress mosquitoes in Kauaʻi’s mauka regions.

The combined use of organic bacteria and other integrated pest management efforts, such as fixing potholes in roads and overturning containers of standing water, should help popular hiking and camping areas in Kōkeʻe and the Alakaʻi to once again become mosquito-free.

Check out the frequently-asked questions for more information.

Illustration by Kelly Sinclair Vicars.

Bacillus-FAQ-for-Kauai

About the project

Hawaiʻi’s forest birds are facing an extinction crisis. Avian malaria transmitted by non-native mosquitoes has decimated native forest bird populations. Of Kauaʻi’s 16 native honeycreepers, 10 have gone extinct. Of the remaining birds, the ʻakikiki is predicted to go extinct by 2025 and the ʻakekeʻe by 2034 (Paxton et al. 2022; see EA for full citation).

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) propose using the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) to reduce mosquito populations within approximately 59,204 acres of forest reserves, state parks, and private lands in the Kōkeʻe and Alakaʻi areas of Kauaʻi. This project is intended to suppress mosquitoes known to transmit diseases to native forest birds in critical higher-elevation native forest habitat.

The USFWS and DLNR are preparing a joint environmental assessment (EA) to address the impacts of the release of male mosquitoes with incompatible Wolbachia in the Kōkeʻe and Alakaʻi Wilderness areas. This EA provides background information concerning IIT and outlines the proposed action, potential impacts, and strategies to avoid and minimize potential negative effects of the proposed release of incompatible male mosquitoes within the project area on Kauaʻi. The EA is available below.

Both DLNR and USFWS are members of Birds Not Mosquitoes, a multi-agency partnership urgently working to protect the native Hawaiian honeycreepers from extinction. In addition to the EA below, users may want to review the educational information on this partnership site, including a description of how IIT functions, and answers to Frequently Asked Questions about protecting Hawaiʻi’s birds through mosquito control. Users interested in native birds can explore our native bird profile pages.

Read the draft Environmental Assessment

The draft environmental assessment will be available for public comment for 31 days, June 23 to July 24, 2023. The document is available at the following link:

• Draft Environmental Assessment: Kauaʻi Mosquito Suppression

Hard copies are available for review at the Hawaiʻi Document Center and the Waimea, Līhuʻe and Princeville branches of the Hawaiʻi State Public Library.

Raise your leo and submit a comment

In order to be considered, comments must be received on or before July 24, 2023. All comments and materials received will become part of the public record associated with this action. Comments can be submitted in multiple ways:

• • Online via the comment form here.
  • Via email to mosquitocontrol@hawaii.gov
  • Via mail, postmarked by July 24, 2023, to: Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Attn: Mosquito Control Project, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Room 325, Honolulu, HI 96813
  • In writing at a public meeting on July 11, 2023, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at the Kauaʻi Philippine Cultural Center, 4475f Nuhou St, Lihue, HI 96766