NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Haleakala National Park officials are asking the public to help them recover native petrels, or 'ua'u (pictured here), and wedge-tailed shearwaters, or 'ua'u kani, that become grounded.
Haleakala officials
request lookout for
endangered birds
WAILUKU >> Haleakala National Park officials are asking the public to help them recover young endangered seabirds that become grounded in October and November on the Valley Isle.
Park wildlife biologist Cathleen Natividad Bailey said native petrels, or 'ua'u, and wedge-tailed shearwaters, or 'ua'u kani, sometimes become disoriented by urban lights during their first flight to ocean feeding grounds.
Bailey asks the public to protect grounded birds by placing them in a covered, well-ventilated cardboard box in a cool area, then call the park at 264-5317 or the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife at 984-8100.
She said people should not give the birds food or water and should be careful handling the bird, because they may bite.
'Ua'u are black-and-white seabirds with black, webbed feet, measure about 16 inches from beak to tail, and have a wingspan of about 3 feet.
'Ua'u kani, gray and white seabirds that look similar, measure about 17 inches from beak to tail and have a wingspan of 38 inches.
'Ua'u kani nest at lower elevations on banks and cliffs near shore with numerous colonies along coastal areas of Maui and on offshore islands.
These endangered native birds, found only in Hawaii, nest on the slopes of Haleakala. About 90 percent of the known 'ua'u population nests are within Haleakala National Park, Bailey said.
The 'ua'u population is estimated at 2,000, and the 'ua'u kani population is unknown, but is much larger, she said.
Both birds, protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, are threatened with extinction by habitat loss and predators, such as feral cats, dogs, mongooses and rats, she said.
