Mist shrouds the heights of Kauai’s Kokee State Park, home to Pakele, a small, dark gray bird named by state biologists. The bird is an ‘akikiki, famous not for its wingspan, song nor characteristics, but because when Pakele goes, that is pretty much the end of the line for this species of little Hawaiian honeycreeper. They face extinction.
According to a report from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife program, the bird is pau.
“Despite the existence of one, two or three birds remaining in the wild, the species is considered functionally extinct,” the news release said.
On Kauai it is a rough trek to view Pakele and the two or three others of her kind. Their fate is beyond precarious and their location is infinitesimal: just 14 square miles of the Alaka‘i Wilderness Preserve.
Researchers named the bird Pakele because it means to escape.
One state researcher said that for three seasons in a row, “she had successfully nested, possibly while being infected with malaria … she’s like, it doesn’t affect me. She’s kind of this incredible individual.”
The fast-coming extinction has focused the attention of University of Hawaii Professor Lisa “Cali” Crampton, program manager of the Kauai Forest Birds Recovery Project with the university’s research corporation.
“I want us to understand that we’re all in this together. The fate of all these species is collectively the responsibility of humans everywhere in this world. It is our actions that have led to the situation our planet is in,” Crampton said in the news release.
The birds are becoming extinct because they are dying of avian malaria brought on by mosquitoes. The pests once didn’t live up in the Kauai mountains like Kokee, but global warming pushed up the Kauai temperatures and expanded the mosquitoes’ range. The birds live only high up in the mountains in a tiny part of Kauai where once there were no mosquitoes.
The complex environmental story was enough of a teaching moment that Crampton took her son on a hiking trip to see Pakele and mom’s research.
“I do think we should witness this beautiful specific species — I took my son two years ago to appreciate it,” Crampton said in an interview.
“You know how teenagers are, but he was a real trooper. It was cold and wet and the hike was five miles each way, but he was strong and found it fascinating.”
Knowledge was gained, but this is not a cheery story. For the ‘akikiki on Kauai the only future for the species is not to find a mate in the wild — but instead, if a captured ‘akikiki at the conservation center operated by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance can reproduce, there is a chance.
Then perhaps someday Crampton’s work with a program to stamp out the Kauai mosquitoes takes hold, and someday the birds can be reintroduced into Kauai’s highlands.
Crampton said the importance is that, as Pakele flies and can perhaps find a mate, “even though they cannot sustain a wild population, they can sustain our hope — and that is critical at this juncture.”
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
