By Big Island Now
May 21, 2019, 8:30 AM HST
(Updated May 21, 2019, 7:43 AM)
A half-dozen palila, hatched and
raised at the San Diego Zoo Global’s (SDZG) Keauhou Bird Conservation Center,
flew in the open air for the first time in their lives on Sunday and Monday,
May 19 and 20, 2019.
Palila, a distant relative of
finches, are the last surviving members of sixteen species of finch-billed,
seed-eating birds in the main Hawaiian Islands. They were once found on Kaua‘i
and O‘ahu, but are now found only high on the slopes of Maunakea.
The multi-year effort to try and
boost their numbers and prevent their possible extinction involves a large
number of collaborators, many of whom had representatives on hand to assist
with today’s release into the Pu‘u Mali Restoration Area on towering Maunakea’s
northern flank.
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