The Endangered Forest Birds of Hawai‘i,on KFVE-TV (K5) on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017 at 9:30 p.m.

Posted on Jan 18, 2017 in News & Events

The Endangered Forest Birds of Hawai‘i, airs on KFVE-TV (K5) on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. and again on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017 at 9:30 p.m.  It will be available online for viewing after 7 p.m. on Jan. 21st at https://vimeo.com/199157463. You may also see some clips of the special here: https://vimeo.com/199595233 prior to it airing. 

Photographed over the course of nearly two years, “The Endangered Forest Birds of Hawai‘i,

transports you deep into the Alaka’i Plateau on Kaua‘i, where the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery

Project (KFBRP) is working with numerous partners to try and save three endangered species

of tiny birds on the brink of extinction (‘Akikiki, ‘Akeke’e, and Puaiohi). Dr. Lisa “Cali” Crampton,

the KFBRP Project Leader commented, “The most recent estimate for the number of ‘Akikiki is

450 birds, give or take fifty. The worst thing that could happen is for any of these forest birds to

join the list of twenty-three endemic bird species that have gone extinct since 1778. All of our

partners and everyone working to reverse these trends are excited to show viewers around

Hawai‘i some pretty astonishing projects underway to save these amazing forest dwellers and

their native homes.”

The show chronicles some of these remarkable projects and the people working in some really

tough environments, toward the common goal of preventing further population reductions and

ultimately extinction. In one segment you can watch as a staffer from San Diego Zoo Global

climbs a freely suspended ladder, 40-feet in the air, to collect marble-sized eggs from a treetop

nest in an ʻōhiʻa tree. Another segment is dedicated to “The ‘Alalā Project,” which for several

decades has worked tirelessly toward the reintroduction of captive-raised ‘Alalā, back into the

Pu’u Makaʻala Natural Area Reserve on Hawai‘i Island. You’ll see, first-hand, the tremendous

amount of work being done by a broad collaboration of federal, state and non-profit partners to

be sure the birds continue to exist and thrive in their natural habitats.