Plans set for rare birds to meet, mate
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
It's being called "the dating game" in some quarters at the University of Hawai'i, but this is deadly serious stuff designed to save a native Hawaiian bird species on the brink of extinction.
Photo courtesy of Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project
For a year and a half, biologists have been preparing for the delicate operation of moving two of the last three po'ouli (honeycreeper) known to exist, into mating proximity in time for spring breeding. From radio-pulse tracking to avian stress tests and measurements of white blood cell counts, they have employed the latest technology available, giving a 21st century high-tech twist to a rare effort that has never been tried exactly like this before.
The po'ouli (honeycreeper), a native Hawaiian bird species, faces extinction.
"This is a major effort. We're trying to get to stage one, with a breeding pair," said conservation biologist Jim Groombridge, project coordinator for the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project administered by the UH Research Corporation and paid for jointly by the State Department of Land and Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A similar operation begun in 1974 in Mauritius with the kestrel — at that time the world's rarest bird — has built the population up from only four birds then to 500-600 today. But those biologists already had a breeding pair, said Groombridge, and it has taken more than 25 years to create a large enough colony in captivity to allow kestrel to be returned to the wild.
That would be the dream scenario for the Hawai'i team, but for now they would be delighted if they could get two po'ouli to mate.
A first attempt with the po'ouli two months ago failed, said Groombridge, but on Tuesday they'll try again, dropping two teams by helicopter into remote native forest on the eastern slopes of Haleakala to tag the lone male with a radio transmitter and capture one of the last two known females.
"We want to initiate breeding activity by moving one of the females into the male's range," he said. "Most of the emphasis is on catching up the female. We'll have just a skeleton crew on the male."
None of the birds apparently knows the others exist, said Groombridge.
Though the scientists have a helicopter standing by to reach the area, once on the ground they'll move on foot.
"We have a fairly good idea of where each bird is," said Groombridge, who has been working to save rare and endangered birds in the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve near Kipahulu for the past four years. Also included in his programs are the Maui parrotbill and akohekohe (crested honeycreeper), although each of these species has around 1,200 individuals left in the wild.
The complex plans to save the po'ouli were developed after a long process of analyzing options over several years, said Groombridge. Keeping the birds in their natural habitat, and attempting to carry out a "translocation" of one bird, was finally chosen as the best plan, he said. But preparing for that has involved building five platforms 25 feet up in the canopies of trees throughout the male's home range to allow the best success in radio-tracking him.
The po'ouli are tiny, quiet and elusive honeycreepers, and capturing them is "like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack," said Groombridge, even with a complex process of tracking called GIS (Geographic Information Systems) which employs data from many sightings to give a good idea of their whereabouts.
If he's found and caught, the male will have the tiny tracking transmitter glued to his back before being released, said Groombridge. Meanwhile, the closest female will also hopefully be found, captured and put carefully into a bird box for the steep mile or two hike up the mountain. She'll be left "in the vicinity of the male," he said.
"We're picking the one that's easiest to move, the closest," said Groombridge. "It's an easier route to hike."
The box will have a perch and will be spacious enough to keep her stress level down, while preventing her from flapping which can stress birds.
The scientists, including a state veterinarian with an avian specialty, have already tested "stress levels" of similar but nonendangered honeycreepers, running them through the same operation and taking blood samples to check white cell counts, said Groombridge. The upshot: A box creates a more stress-free bird than a bag does.
The po'ouli was discovered in 1973 in the Hanawi area, but little is known about the species because of its rarity, said Groombridge.
If the project is successful in creating a mating pair during the breeding season from April through June, the hope is to collect eggs and raise young in captivity to create a colony so birds can be returned to the wild later.
Reach Bev Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
