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Birds’ matchmakers WAILUKU >> A rare female bird captured and brought to a nesting area to mate with a male on Maui has turned out to be the type who prefers to stay at home.
see love’s labor lost
A rare female po'ouli flies home
without meeting her intendedBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comState and federal wildlife officials reported that after spending 42 days hanging nets to capture the female po'ouli and then moving her into the male's territory, she decided to fly home to her nesting area about a mile and a half away.
"As far as the scientists know, the two birds didn't meet," said Joan Jewett, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Scientists said they were disappointed that the arranged meeting failed, but were encouraged by the information gathered during their trip into the native forest of East Maui between Keanae and Hana.Federal biologist Eric VanderWerf said the female ate a meal of wax worms and snails and remained calm in a specially designed soft enclosure after being captured on April 4.
That gave scientists hope that they could successfully capture both a male and female and mate them in captivity.
VanderWerf said a decision will be made after joint consultation between state and federal wildlife officials.
The male and two female po'ouli, known by the scientific name Melamprosops phaeosoma, are the only known survivors of their species and reside at about the 6,000-foot level along the northeast slopes of Haleakala.
A member of the honeycreeper family, their numbers were once estimated at 200 when they were discovered in 1973.
The birds, who once lived at the 1,500- to 4,500-foot level, are now found at higher elevations, where there are fewer disease-carrying mosquitos, scientists said.