An attempt to recover the Poʹouli by translocation and an appraisal of recovery strategy for bird species of extreme rarity Original Research Article

The Poʹouli (Melamprosops phaeosoma), a Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to Maui, has a population of only three known individuals; no breeding pair currently exists, and their home ranges are too far apart for breeding to occur. Without timely intervention this monotypic genus will likely go extinct. Conservationists have faced a dilemma: facilitate breeding amongst the known individuals, manage their ecosystem to benefit uncounted Poʹouli, or a combination of both? Poʹouli biology is poorly known – but their remote home ranges are closely monitored. A State and Federal Environmental Assessment in 1999 recommended that one Poʹouli be translocated into the home range of another in an attempt to facilitate breeding. This first manipulative recovery action was achieved in April 2002, and provided valuable new information for future captive management efforts, but upon release, radio telemetry confirmed that the translocated bird returned to its own home range after one day. We describe the recent progress that has been made to recover the Poʹouli, and critically evaluate the Poʹouli case study and the lessons learned from it that can help expedite recovery of other birds of extreme rarity.