Four inches tall and weighing in at half an ounce, the contender is a bark-picker from the Alaka‘i Swamp. Its challengers — habitat loss, avian disease and non-native mammals — have reduced the number of this species to a mere
Four inches tall and weighing in at half an ounce, the contender is a bark-picker from the Alaka‘i Swamp.
Its challengers — habitat loss, avian disease and non-native mammals — have reduced the number of this species to a mere 1,500 world-wide.
The Kaua‘i creeper, also called the ‘akikiki, has wildlife biologists in its corner, fighting extinction with science.
As the bald eagle soared off the endangered species list on June 28, the Kaua‘i creeper stood in line with the sand dune lizard, Oregon spotted frog and other high priority petitioners for federal protection.
The ‘akikiki, endemic to Kaua‘i and found nowhere else in the world, has been listed as a top candidate for the endangered species list since 1994, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records.
Gaining Endangered Species Act protection would provide more money for scientists to study the warbler-like bird and implement recovery plans.
The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that President George Bush has added 60 species, compared with about 550 by former President Bill Clinton and 256 by former President George H.W. Bush.
Recovery efforts on Kaua‘i have been underway for the past decade, but time is running out, Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife biologist Dave Leonard said.
“Money is our main limiting factor in all of this,” he said.
The Kaua‘i creeper, Leonard said, is restricted to about 14 square miles on the most easterly portion of the Alaka‘i Swamp, a state-designated Wilderness Preserve on Mount Wai‘ale‘ale, some 4,500 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
“Disease is a major concern we have for the Kaua‘i creeper and all the other forest birds on Kaua‘i,” said Jay Nelson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lead biologist.
Native Hawaiian forest birds are very susceptible to avian pox and malaria because they had no evolutionary history with the deadly diseases, Leonard said. Early European explorers inadvertently brought mosquitoes carrying the diseases to Kaua‘i.
Climate change increases the threat, Nelson said.
“As temperatures increase and mosquitoes can breed at higher elevations, it puts those endangered species at greater risk,” he said.
Biologists who suspect malaria and pox as the leading cause of the Kaua‘i creeper’s rapid population decline have started a survey to test the species for avian diseases.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife surveys in spring 2000 showed that in the last 30 years the estimated population of the ‘akikiki has declined from 6,832 to 1,472 birds, plus or minus a sampling error of several hundred.
“We’re getting to a level where there’s not a lot of time,” Leonard said.
Alien vegetation and feral rats, pigs and goats destroy habitat and change the character of native forests, Leonard said, presenting another threat to the Kaua‘i creeper.
“Protecting habitat is a real key element. We think it’s disease, but it could be rat predation,” Nelson said. “We need to understand what’s driving the population down.”
Biologists have suggested fencing portions of the Alaka‘i to rid non-native mammals, but a lack of funding has impeded the effort.
Other recovery plans may include aerial applications of rodenticides, Leonard said.
“Many people are fearful of these poisons getting into the water, but they have undergone huge amounts of testing,” he said. “The potential threat to humans is negligible. Anything we do, like fencing or the widespread application of rodenticides would have to go through public hearings.”
Both plans are years down the road, the biologist added.
Another recovery effort may be to capture a small number of Kaua‘i creepers and breed them in captivity.
“This way if it gets to the point of desperation, we’d have some backup,” Leonard said.
State and federal biologists work together to understand the problems and develop plans of action, Nelson said.
The best way for the public to help protect the Kaua‘i creeper, and all other endangered species, is to support management activities, Leonard said.
Scientists have estimated that of the 71 known Hawaiian bird species, 24 have vanished and 32 are endangered. Hawai‘i comprises less than 1 percent of U.S. landmass but accounts for more than 70 percent of extinctions in the U.S.
For more information, visit www.fws.gov or www.hear.org.
