This story was originally published in the Guardian, and reproduced here with the Climate Desk collaboration. The Kauai Oo was the last Hawaiian honeyeater to survive. It is a small, black and yellow bird, with glossy feathers, and a haunting, haunting song. This year it was officially declared extinct. The oo is one of 21 species
This article, which was first published by the Guardian, is being reprinted below as a part of the Climate Desk partnership.
The last surviving member of the Hawaiian honeyeaters was the Kauai, a little black and bright bird with bright feathers and an unsettling song. It was formally declared dead this year. The US Fish and Wildlife Service removed 21 species from the list of threatened species in 2023 because they were no longer found in the wild. The chafed white-eye, which was once one of the most prevalent birds on that island, and the tiny Mariana fruit bat, also known as the Guam flying fox, are both extinct. The Scioto madtom, a small, Ohio-dwelling catfish with whiskers, and the Bachman’s warbler, which spent the summer in the US south and winter in Cuba, are also examples. Eight Pacific birds and eight freshwater mussels are both publicly extinct in the Southeast. Biologists and conservationists were not surprised by the delisting, which was approved in November after two years of research and consideration. Many of these species had n’t been spotted in a long time. However, the announcement served as a sobering reminder that the extinction crisis that threatens 2 million species worldwide is being accelerated by the climate crisis and habitat destruction. The delisting has served as a time for mourning and galvanizing for the scientists and environmentalists who have been working to protect these species. It’s a terrible tragedy, declared author and ecologist Carl Safina. And I believe it violates our spiritual principles. Hawaii is “where the loss of biodiversity is felt more keenly than anywhere else in the US.” Pacific forest birds made up eight of the 21 sold species. Due in large part to habitat loss and an illness of insect malaria, a disease spread by invasive mosquitoes, four other species are in immediate danger of going extinct. According to Rachel Kingsley, the climate crisis is making things even more difficult because it has altered regional weather patterns and altered delicate island ecosystems. She has participated in efforts to reclaim the critically endangered cousins of the birds that were declared dead this year as an referral associate for the conservation organization Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project. Our forest birds are currently in danger from many of the same threats that were just declared dead, according to Kingsley. ” The threat of malaria has actually increased dramatically over the past couple of years. A coalition of federal, state, and nonprofit organizations is dispersing mosquitoes with a unique bacterium strain that can inhibit the insects ‘ ability to reproduce in order to combat the disease, which is spread by insects that were likely brought aboard European ships in the early 19th century. The mosquitoes have moved to higher elevations as a result of cooler temperatures, leaving forest birds with little cover. Kingsley said,” Alas, it seems like the quick forward button kind of got pushed down on us.” It arrived because it believed it had heard something similar that it most likely had n’t heard in a while. Severe weather, increased drought, and increased risk of wildfire have all been exacerbated by global warming, which has even put the island’s forest birds in danger. This year’s catastrophic fire that decimated the town of Lahaina almost completely engulfed a conservation center for some of the rarest birds in the world, including the’akikiki,’ an American honeycreeper species that is thought to be the most endangered bird. Before conservationists could put out the fire, it was about 150 feet away from the property. Witnessing their decline can be a serious and damaging responsibility for the scientists working to prevent their extinction. Jim Jacobi, a biologist with the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, is one of the last people to have ever seen at least four dead birds in his almost 50-year career. He was one of the last people to actually hear the Kauai song in 1984. He continued,” I still get goosebumps, and when I think about it, the hair on the back of my neck stands up.” When they heard it, he and two additional researchers had hiked out to a far-off forest in Kauai. ” That sound of oo ao auh.” He recalled,” It was only amazing—very flute-like.” He turned on his recorder right away to start the song. The bird flew off, but they heard it once as they descended to an old nest tree a short while later. Jacobi rewound the tape and played it again to check that his recorder was operational. Immediately, soaring toward the researchers while singing its sweet song, They did n’t need binoculars to see its glossy black feathers and the glint of yellow at its tail because it was so close. Wow, this is great, I thought. Sincock remarked. Nearly instantly, he lost weight. The drew attention to a recording of its unique voice because it mistook it for another bird. He said,” It came because it believed it heard something that it probably had n’t heard in a while—another of its kind.” This bird, which may have been the past of its kind, was singing for an unattainable mate. One of the many birds that roamed the Pacific islands was the kauai. The single total extinction of an entire insect family in modern times is its delisting. According to Jonee Peters, executive director of the Conservation Council for Hawaii, its cousins on the Big Island, Oahu, and Molokai had yet grander tail feathers that were once used to make the cloaks and capes worn by Hawaiian royalty. During the moulting season, hunters would gather the feathers without harming the birds by using abilities and knowledge that have all but disappeared. According to Noah Gomes, a local bird expert and historian based in Hilo,” What makes us Hawai’ian is the shared experiences of ourselves and of our ancestors.” When these birds vanish, we’re losing a piece of who we are. In 2021, the provincial government initially suggested removing almost two dozen species from the list of endangered species. In the 50 years since the Endangered Species Act ( ESA ) went into effect, only 11 other species had ever been delisted due to extinction. Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity ( CBD), said,” The news just made me so sad.” Up then, I experienced all of these emotions, and I had to deal with them. So she set up a wake. She and a colleague wrote eulogies for each species, remarking that the Little Mariana fruit bat “was n’t all that much, actually” and marveling at how the inch-long San Marcos gambusia established itself in Texas’s half-mile, slow-moving section of the lower Santa Rosas River. She lit prayer candles that were embossed with the image of each species during a simulated ceremony as volunteers read out the tributes. She remarked,” I considered how I would grieve for a friend—of course we would have ceremony and talk about them.” The Endangered Species Act is comparable to having an intensive care unit and ER without routine immunizations and checkups. She even considered ways to honor their memory. According to Curry,” Greass is a logical response to what is happening to the planet, so it’s crucial to make space for grief.” However, it’s also crucial to avoid lingering it. I thought about what I could do to save the species that are still around as I lit the candles for each endangered species. Curry resolved to advocate for increased conservation funding and a strengthening of the ESA when the Fish and Wildlife Service finalized its decision to declare the species extinct this year. The historic legislation and whether it is sufficient to combat the startling rate of biodiversity loss have been the subject of renewed scrutiny this year. Curry claimed that the species that were declared extinct this year had frequently been listed to soon. For instance, the flat pigtoe mussel did n’t receive ESA protections until 1987, seven years after it was last spotted in the wild and more than a decade after work on the dam that experts believed would endanger its population started. In other instances, species are safeguarded, but researchers lack the funding and tools required to save them. According to a 2016 CBD study, Congress simply offers about 3. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s individual scientists, repopulation requires 5 % of the funding. Some species, like the bald eagle, have been rescued from the brink thanks to the Endangered Species Act. Safina remarked that the ESA resembled an intensive care unit and emergency room in some ways but did not offer routine immunizations or checkups. He claimed that the scope of the extinction crisis was” completely overwhelming to the capacity for the human mind to really know and understand.” Almost all of nature needs immediate action and protection in the face of a worsening climate crisis, quick deforestation, and habitat loss. We have a hard time understanding how fast and how some species are going extinct, Safina continued. Thus, the effort to put an end to this crisis takes on a more spiritual than academic quality, and in some ways, it becomes more moral than practical. ” As part of the Climate Desk collaboration, this article, which was first published by the Guardian, is reproduced around. The last surviving member of the Hawaiian honeyeaters was the Kauai, a little black and bright bird with bright feathers and an unsettling song. This year, it was formally declared to be dead. It was one of 21 different species.
This story was originally published in the Guardian, and reproduced here with the Climate Desk collaboration. The Kauai Oo was the last Hawaiian honeyeater to survive. It is a small, black and yellow bird, with glossy feathers, and a haunting, haunting song. This year it was officially declared extinct. The oo is one of 21 species
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2024/01/21-species-declared-extinct-fish-wildlife-service-hawaii-birds/
