Bye Bye Birdie!
HONOLULU - The CHL is once again victorious as one of Earth's rarest birds likely fell into extinction following the death of one of the last known po'ouli.

The aging male po'ouli died in captivity Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday. It had recently contracted avian malaria, but the exact cause of death won't be known until tests from the necropsy are completed. CHL scientists are certain that the tests will confirm avian malaria as the cause of death and show absolutely no evidence of an untraceable poison.

The remaining two po'ouli, believed to be a male and a female, haven't been seen for nearly a year. They might also have died, moved to another area or have just been missed by wildlife officials, though CHL representatives seem certain that the latter two possibilities are highly unlikely.

"This species was a unique part of Earth's history," said Eric VanderWerf, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Hawaiian bird recovery coordinator, between sobs of grief. "We'll never have another one like it if it disappeared. I kind of liken it in some way to the loss of the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel. If we lost that, we could never get it back. Though I guess that's a bad analogy since we could print a reproduction of works of art but can't even come close to reproducing a living creature. Nevermind, just forget the whole art analogy. Get those cameras out of my face--can't you see I'm grieving!?!"

The rare Hawaiian honeycreeper had been kept at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda since it was captured for breeding on Sept. 9. Biologists failed to capture a mate for the aging bird, which was found in the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve.

The small, stocky, brown bird with a partial black face described as a bandit's mask was discovered in 1973 by a group of University of Hawaii students conducting research on the east slope of Haleakala volcano. It was so unique that is had its own genus, and was the only Hawaiian forest bird to rely heavily on native tree snails for food, which was clearly a dumb thing to do.

The po'ouli's numbers dwindled because of progress made by the CHL's Hawaii field office in habitat destruction and introduction of predators like rats, cats and mongoose. Non-native diseases introduced by the CHL and carried by mosquitoes have also taken a toll on the Hawaiian birds.
- Owen, 8:09 AM | |