10-17-2023, 09:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-17-2023, 09:19 PM by HereOnThePrimalEdge.)
The article states the cause of Hawaiian bird extinction is development, agriculture, and mosquitoes. What about feral cats? Cat populations can be reduced if there's a will. Mosquitoes can be controlled with sterile males, but we choose not to. One example:
Kākāwahie: Also known as the Molokaʻi creeper, the kākāwahie was 5 inches in length and described as either bright red or bright orange with dark wings and tail feathers said to resemble the appearance of flames. Its call sounding like someone chipping or cutting wood. Hawaiians traditionally used the kākāwahie’s red feathers for the capes and leis of aliʻi (royalty). It was last sighted in montane wet forest at ʻŌhiʻalele Plateau in 1963.
The Hawaiʻi list includes eight birds and one flower: Kauaʻi ʻakialoa, Kauaʻi nukupuʻu, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, kāmaʻo or Large Kauaʻi thrush, Maui ākepa, Maui nukupuʻu, kākāwahie or Molokai creeper, poʻouli or black-faced honeycreeper, and Phyllostegia glabra var. lanaiensis, a plant from the mint family that is found only in Hawai‘i.*
The Hawaiian birds declared extinct today are a case in point. Their forest habitats were razed by development and agriculture. The introduction to the islands of mosquitoes, which are not native and carry both avian pox and avian malaria, provided the nail in the coffin. Now several other native Hawaiian birds are on the brink, including the ʻakikiki, which is down to as few as five pairs in the wild because climate change is allowing mosquitoes to reach further up into their mountain habitat.
https://mauinow.com/2023/10/16/eight-bir...d-extinct/
* Not any more
Kākāwahie: Also known as the Molokaʻi creeper, the kākāwahie was 5 inches in length and described as either bright red or bright orange with dark wings and tail feathers said to resemble the appearance of flames. Its call sounding like someone chipping or cutting wood. Hawaiians traditionally used the kākāwahie’s red feathers for the capes and leis of aliʻi (royalty). It was last sighted in montane wet forest at ʻŌhiʻalele Plateau in 1963.
The Hawaiʻi list includes eight birds and one flower: Kauaʻi ʻakialoa, Kauaʻi nukupuʻu, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, kāmaʻo or Large Kauaʻi thrush, Maui ākepa, Maui nukupuʻu, kākāwahie or Molokai creeper, poʻouli or black-faced honeycreeper, and Phyllostegia glabra var. lanaiensis, a plant from the mint family that is found only in Hawai‘i.*
The Hawaiian birds declared extinct today are a case in point. Their forest habitats were razed by development and agriculture. The introduction to the islands of mosquitoes, which are not native and carry both avian pox and avian malaria, provided the nail in the coffin. Now several other native Hawaiian birds are on the brink, including the ʻakikiki, which is down to as few as five pairs in the wild because climate change is allowing mosquitoes to reach further up into their mountain habitat.
https://mauinow.com/2023/10/16/eight-bir...d-extinct/
* Not any more
