This is the same kind of effort on a much larger scale that is going on in the rain forests of Hawaii right now with the world�s rarest known bird, the po�ouli (�black face�). Univ. of Hawaii students discovered the bird in 1973. Only 24 of the one-ounce birds were ever seen, but by methods of extrapolation it is believed that there were 200 at the time. 

Now there are only 3 known po�ouli left. They are one of the thousands of plant and animal species unique to Hawaii. The islands are isolated, and there are few indigenous threats. So the native species evolved without natural defenses to the predators and diseases later brought into the islands. Because more than half of the 140 bird species has gone extinct, Hawaii is known as the endangered species capital of the world. They want to change this and need lots of financial resources to do it. 

There were many debates about whether or not to let the po�ouli go extinct. This has led to a last ditch effort to save them. So why save the po�ouli, which seems to be such a futile effort. Because the agencies involved believe that to save them will enable them to save other endangered species. They think that success will bring the plight of the rainforest to the attention of those who provide public and private funds. And so they have planned every detail to make sure that this is a success.

They have several eight-member search teams who will tote an avian intensive care unit, veterinary tools and medicines along with the po�ouli�s favorite foods, tree snails and insects. They will monitor 20 foot fine-mesh nets in the hope that the po�ouli will fly into them. As each bird is caught it will be hand carried in a soft-sided box over muddy terrain to a field headquarters. From there it will be a 10-minute helicopter ride to the Maui Bird Conservation Center, home to about four dozen other specie birds.

The real challenge is making them feel at home enough to mate (there are one male and two females in this known group). Previous efforts to colonize them in the wild failed. They will be provided with nest-building supplies and food. Several members of another species, the Maui parrotbill, will be in the aviary also to help make them feel at home. If they mate and an egg is laid, it will be whisked to an incubator for special treatment. In the wild, many tropical birds lay only one or two eggs a year.

To the conservationists working in Hawaii, this story is not about the po�ouli. It is about bringing visibility to the issue of the endangered-species in Hawaii and so this preservation effort has a lot riding on it. So, sometime conservation efforts don�t make complete sense unless you know the whole story.  

This is a story that we hope has a happy ending. This story was taken from an article by Rita Beamish, in the Washington Post on February 3, 2003.