Released Palila Breed on Mauna Kea
Posted at 7:26 am July 25, 2005 by Alan Lieberman
In 2005, the Hawaiian Endangered Bird Conservation Program has reared six palila that will help make up the cohort scheduled for release on Mauna Kea later this year.
One of the most satisfying moments in our job is when we are notified of the reproductive success of a captive-reared/released bird in its native habitat. A chick produced in the wild by a captive bird represents several milestones. The released birds have survived long enough to become reproductively active, the habitat has sufficient quality to maintain birds and provide the resources to support reproduction, the chicks have enough resources to fledge and wean, and the predators, diseases, and other limiting factors are being managed to a level that adults and chicks can survive.
On July 22, 2005 we received the very welcome news from the USGS-BRD field crew that one of the male palila, released in 2003 (studbook #38, hatched in 2001) was observed feeding two fledgling palila. The only female in the area was a bird translocated by the USGS-BRD in 2004. This is the first observation of a successful reproductive event for a captive-reared palila since we began releasing palila on Mauna Kea in late 2003. We are excited by the news and remain optimistic that this is simply the beginning of what we hope will be a new population in the managed mamane forests of Puu Mali.
We sincerely appreciate the hard work of the USGS-BRD field crew who have spent many days and weeks in the field, following the translocated palila as well as our captive/released birds.
Alan Lieberman is the program director for the San Diego Zoo’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.
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August 20th, 2005 at 12:52 am
Congratulations to your staff on this great achievement!
September 13th, 2005 at 5:28 am
Thank you for your congrats, Suzanne. You might be interested to know that we have hatched another “crop” of palila this year from the captive flock and plan to release our third season’s cohort of 8 to 10 birds this winter on Mauna Kea. The program is moving forward very nicely, in concert with the recovery of the mamane forest at Puu Mali, the release site. The State of Hawaii is also making great progress in erecting the ungulate fences that protect the newly regenerating mamane trees (note: mamane is the critical food resource for palila).
Keep watching the blog site and I’ll give you updates of progress.
Thanks again for watching.
Alan
December 28th, 2005 at 4:07 pm
I spend much of my time up in the mamane forest on the slopes of Mauna Kea, and we enjoy watching the birds. Best of luck!
December 28th, 2005 at 5:27 pm
Thanks for looking in, Brooks. You might be interested to know that we released an additional cohort of 6 palila on December 1, 2005 and it looks like they’re all going to make the adjustment to the wild just fine. All six can be seen every day, feeding on the mamane pods alongside the wild birds.
Keep watching this space for more updates. Thanks again for looking in.
Happy New Year to you and all the other bird enthusiasts in Hawaii.
Alan Lieberman
September 17th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Do the palila move to different parts of the mountain seasonally to find green mamane pods? I saw one or two palila when I went to the Pu’u La’au area in the early spring, but I have not seen any this summer, and it seems like all of the mamane pods from Saddle Road up to 8500 feet elevation are brown and dry. A few mamane are currently flowering, though. There is currently an abundance of amakihi and apapane feasting on the flowering naio in the area.
September 24th, 2006 at 12:17 am
Not to worry. Today I observed many palila below the Pu’u La’au ranger cabin along the main road at 7000 feet, and above it near the conifer grove at 9000 feet, and confirmed that the bird I heard about a week ago was also a palila. Perhaps it’s chance, or perhaps they were more active because it was sunny today. I even got a few good pictures for my collection.