Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program

The Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program (HEBCP) is a unique conservation partnership composed of the Zoological Society of San Diego’s CRES, government agencies (U.S. Department of the Interior and the State of Hawaii), and Hawaii's private landowners, working together on the recovery of Hawaii’s most threatened forest birds.

With the arrival of humans to the Hawaiian islands came the introduction of new threats such as mammalian predators and exposure to novel diseases, as well as habitat destruction and overexploitation. Having evolved in the absence of these pressures, the consequences for the majority of forest birds have been catastrophic. Since colonization by humans, at least 21 species of Hawaii’s endemic birds have disappeared forever, another 26 species are listed by BirdLife International as currently facing extinction, and most are dependent on intensive conservation measures. Furthermore, the forests of the Hawaiian Islands are listed as the most threatened of the Top 20 Most Threatened Bird Habitats in the United States.

As the pendulum of extinction continues to swing, active management is required to redress the balance or simply to prevent the pendulum swinging further. The HEBCP plays a pivotal role of using captive propagation and release programs as valuable techniques as part of a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to endangered species recovery.

The HEBCP manages the state-of-the-art Keauhou and Maui Bird Conservation centers, with a focus on species for which captive propagation is critical to their survival and recovery. One particularly notable species is the 'alala Corvus hawaiiensis: now extinct in the wild, the population numbers just over 50 individuals, all in the managed-care program. Intensive avicultural methods are employed to maximize the reproductive output of the captive birds. From 1993 to the end of 2006, a total of 835 chicks of 14 taxa have been successfully hatched by the HEBCP.

The ultimate goal of the captive breeding program is to produce cohorts of birds for release, while effective management measures are being researched and developed for the wild populations. The releases involve strategies to augment the surviving population, to mitigate the impacts of limiting factors (e.g. nest predation), to reestablish extinct subpopulations in managed habitat, and eventually to increase the species’ wild population and distribution.

Since 1999, 132 puaiohi Myadestes palmeri have been released in the Alakai Swamp of Kauai. Over 50 percent of the birds have been confirmed to survive the release process and several breeding successes by captive-reared/released puaiohi have been confirmed in the wild. Releases of captive-bred palila Loxioides bailleui have begun to reestablish a subpopulation on the north side of Mauna Kea, a volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, where the critical native habitat of mamane forest is being protected and beginning to regenerate. These released birds also seem to act as a magnet to other palila which have been translocated from another subpopulation.

Further Hawaiian endemics being successfully propagated and managed in captivity include the Maui parrotbill Pseudonestor xanthophrys, the Hawaii akepa Loxops coccineus and Hawaii creeper Oreomystis mana, as well as the nene Branta sandvicensis. Each year, large cohorts of nene goslings are produced for release, thereby bolstering the wild populations which continue to struggle on several of the islands. Restoration programs for the Maui parrotbill and 'alala are in their early developmental stages.

The success of the HEBCP’s captive propagation and release efforts makes it a world leader in this field of expertise. However, efforts were too late to save the po'ouli Melamprosops phaeosoma: this species is believed to have become extinct when the last known individual died at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in 2004. Although cells of the po'ouli have been successfully cultured at CRES and stored in the Frozen Zoo, this extinction event reflects the dramatic threats which continue to face Hawaiian avifauna and the vital efforts which are required to conserve it.

More

Listen to an iZoofari Chat with Alan Lieberman, conservation program manager of the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.
Read Zoo Weblogs about the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program
Outreach and Education in Hawaii

News Archives

Breeding Success of Endangered Hawaiian Bird Brings Smallest 'Akepa Ever Hatched
200th Hatching of Rare Hawaiian Bird
Seven Palila Flying: Rare Birds Released
Rare Hawaiian Bird Released on Kauai
Po‘ouli Death Leaves Species' Future Uncertain