Hawaii has lost eight forest bird species according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, which removed 21 species from the endangered list in 2023 due to absence in the wild. The removal was finalized in November after two years of consideration by specialists. The loss is tragic, but more importantly represents a moral failure by Nature's custodian, Homo sapiens. Global warming has shifted weather patterns and reshaped sensitive island ecosystems A biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity told the UK Guardian that the extinction crisis,“is completely overwhelming to the capacity of the human mind to actually know and understand”. [graphic: two of the extinct Hawaiian species, kākāwahie and the Maui nukupuʻu]
Avian malaria is also becoming a severe problem as mosquitos, probably introduced in the early19th century, are breeding prolifically. Because of higher temperatures, the insects are moving to higher elevations leaving forest birds with no room to escape infestation. To combat the disease a coalition of environmental groups are releasing mosquitos with a strain of bacterium that hinders reproduction. Wildfires also present a threat to declining bird populations. The Lahina wildfire came within 150 feet of a reserve for endangered birds, including the most endangered bird in the United States, the‘akikiki before conservationists put out the fire.
Among the birds gone forever is thep Kauaʻiʻōʻō. a black and yellow bird with a haunting, melodic song. Perhaps the last Kaua'i'ō'ō was recorded ibn 1984 by biologist Jim Jacobi who attracted a male by playing a recording of the bird's flute-like song. Jacobi speculated that he was drawn by the song of another of his species he had not heard in a long time. He was singing for a mate he would never find. Listen to a lost voice of the forest.