Newsletter / Blog
2012-01-02 New Hope for Critically Endangered, Nihoa Millerbirds.
In an historic
and collaborative effort to save the Critically Endangered
species from extinction, 24 Nihoa
Millerbirds were released on Laysan Island.Millerbirds have been absent from
Laysan for nearly 100 years. The birds were captured on Nihoa, then transported
for 3 days and then released on Laysen
Island. All of the
radio-tagged birds have been sighted as well as a number of other released
birds and they all seem to be doing well.
The Millerbird, is a lively brown song bird that forages for insects
among low shrubs and bunch-grasses. On Laysan, the Millerbird joins other endangered species, such as the Laysan
Finch, Laysan Duck, Hawaiian monk seal, and several plant species, as well as
millions of nesting seabirds.
At 1,023 acres Laysan is the
second largest of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and is located in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine
National Monument, approximately 790
miles northwest of Honolulu.
The Millerbird - Acrocephalus
familiaris is a species of Old World
Warbler with two subspecies, A. f. kingi and A f. familiaris. The
latter, the Laysan Millerbird, became extinct sometime between 1916 and 1923.
The former, the critically endangered Nihoa Millerbird, remains the only race
left, inhabiting the small island of Nihoa Hawaii. It is the only Old World warbler to
have colonised Hawaii, although there is no fossil
evidence that the species ever had a distribution beyond these two islands.
Millerbirds form long-term pair
bonds and defend territories over a number of years. Territories can be as
large as 0.95 hectares. Breeding occurs variably from January to September
depending on food availability.
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