Initiating recovery of the critically endangered honeycreeper, the Po`o-uli.
Paul E. Baker and Thane K. Pratt
The Po`o-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma) and Maui Nukupu`u (Hemignathus lucidus affinis) are both endemic to the island of Maui. The field study extended from 1995-1997. This project was begun when preliminary searches by PIERC located only five Po`o-uli and a single Nukupu`u. The goals of this 2-year project were to provide information on the status and biology of these species and to initiate recovery. Additional searches turned up no additional birds and failed to find any Nukupu`u. Two Po`o-uli disappeared and another was captured and banded. Behavior of the surviving three birds was studied, and their home ranges were mapped. To control predatory rats, a network of diphacinone bait stations was established and regularly replenished. The Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project was initiated by HDLNR in FY-97 to take over this project, and remarkably, all three Po`o-uli are still alive.
|
