Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 1, 1 January 1992 — Naturally Hawaiian [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Naturally Hawaiian

by Patrick Ching artist/environmentalist

The bird that went unnoticed

High on the slopes of Haleakala above Hana, I Maui, lives a bird that until recently was unknown to man. The small brown and gray bird with a black mask was discovered in 1973 by a group of University of Hawai'i

students who were studying birds in the Hanawi rainforest. Because of its remote location it is probable that the bird was unknown to ancient Hawaiians. There is no mention of it in Hawaiian chants nor is there evidence it was used in Hawaiian featherwork. The name "po'ouli" was given to the bird by the late Mary Pukui. Literally Po'ouli means "black head," or, more poetically, "dark forehead." The po'ouli is one of Hawaii's most endangered species. Since the time of its discovery its populahon has plummeted rapidly largely as a result of introduced pigs whieh are destroying the understory, or low-growth vegetation, of the po'ouli's critical habitat. Today there are only an estimated 50 birds left.

The accompanying picture was painted from an actual field sketch of the first po'ouli nest ever found. The scene is of a male bird feeding a female at their nest whieh was built in the upper canopy of a native 'ohi'a tree. The po'ouli's diet consists largely of worms, insects and mollusks whieh the bird finds by tearing away pieces of moss and bark.

Po'oull