HONOLULU — As the days for 2024 count down, “Makahiki o na Manu Nahele: Year of the Forest Birds,” the year-long celebration and awareness campaign of Hawaiian forest birds comes to a close following the proclamation by Gov. Josh Green in January.
“An estimated 4 7,000 people engaged in bird-related education events over the year with the goal of raising awareness about Hawaiian forest birds and their plight,” said the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources in a release. “But for the birds themselves, it was a complicated year filled with both troubling declines, and new rays of hope.”
The DLNR said the most critically endangered forest birds continued to experience declines, including Kauai’s akikiki that is now considered functionally extinct in the wild with five or fewer wild birds remaining.
Declines in wild populations of Kauai’s aianiaum and akekee, and Maui’s kiwikiu sparked additional collections of birds for captive breeding populations in an effort to prevent extinctions. On Hawaii Island, the population of palila has declined to approximately 500 individual birds, largely due to invasive predators like cats, rats, and mongoose.
“On Kauai, one of the last remaining wild akikiki, a female named Pakele, was seen with a potential mate named Liko,” the DLNR said. “On Maui, a kiwikiu kknown as MAPA1 continues to be seen in Maui’s forests years after researchers thought the bird had disappeared due to disease.”
The DLNR said as these birds cling to existence, new developments in conservation tools are providing hope for a healthier future.
“Conservation crews with the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project spent 2024 implementing the Incompatible Insect Technique, hereafter known as IIT, to reduce the number of mosquitoes in forests, thereby reducing the threat of avian malaria,” the DLNR said. “The tool is set to expand to Kauai in 2025, hopefully in time to save Pakele, Liko, and any offspring they might have.”
The threat of avian malaria and the hope presented by the IIT is detailed in the 2024-produced documentary by the partnership Birds, Not Mosquitoes. The documentary, and information on avian malaria is available online at the website http://birdsnotmosquitoes.org.
Another ray of hope for forest birds is an increase in awareness among Hawaii residents.
“A recent pair of surveys by the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and The American Bird Conservancy showed that the proportion of Hawaii residents who could not name a Hawaiian forest bird dropped from 59 percent in 2017 to 24 percent in 2024,” the DLNR said.
The DLNR said as the Year of the Forest Bird closes, students from across Hawaii submitted video messages to the DLNR, Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) sharing how they learned about birds in their classrooms and why they hope that these birds will continue to be part of Hawaii for generations to come.
The videos will be shared on Instagram by accounts from DOFAW and partners in the Year of the Forest Birds campaign, including the Kauai and Maui Forest Bird Recovery Projects, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum, Birds Not Mosquitoes, The American Bird Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, and others.
