Project: The ‘Akikiki and ‘Akeke‘e are two species of Hawaiian honeycreeper found only on the island of Kaua‘i. These two small bird species have been severely affected by introduced diseases such as avian malaria, loss of native forest habitat, hurricanes, and the introduction of non-native predator species in the wild. Both the ‘Akikiki and ‘Akeke‘e have shown steep declines over the past 10 to 15 years, and now number fewer than 1,000 birds each. The species were flagged to be brought into captivity to start a breeding population through a collaborative effort by the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP), State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office (USFWS-PIFWO) and San Diego Zoo Global.

 

Role: I began managing the Hawaiian Endangered Bird Programme in 2014 joining a coalition of experts determining how and when to bring these birds into captivity. I submitted a grant request to complete this project and employed  Programme Manager Bryce Masuda with this field project in mind. We planned and executed a joint effort to collect eggs from ‘Akikiki and ‘Akeke‘e nests from the wild as part of an effort to preserve these two bird species from extinction. Because swamp forest where the bird's nest is so dense and hard to reach, extracted eggs were flown by helicopter to the field incubation station we had temporarily set up on Kauai. Eggs were hatched, nestlings fed up, and then transported back to our bird center on Maui. I was lucky enough to care for nestlings in their initial days and fly birds in cooler boxes on Hawaiian Airlines back to Maui. The logistics and moving parts of this project meant many things could have gone wrong - but dedicated planning paid off and there is now successful breeding of these two species in captivity.

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