The first 'alala chicks of the season are hungry!
It has been an amazing start to the 2011 `alala breeding season: we have already hatched eight healthy chicks at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center in Hawaii! This brings the entire `alala population to 84 birds, and we anticipate many more eggs to go into incubators soon. One of these chicks represents a significant achievement in itself: the 125th `alala to hatch since the inception of the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program in 1993. Also exciting is the fact that these chicks are offspring from three different females. Notably, one of these chicks represents the first great-grand-offspring of the `alala that hatched from the very last egg harvested from the wild in 1996 (known to his friends as Oli), which has resulted in the valuable genetic line descended from the wild Ko`ohena pair.
Hatching begins with the embryo pushing its beak into the air-cell at the blunt end of the egg. From that point we continue to monitor the embryo even more closely, in case it needs assistance through the hatching process. (For more details of the `alala hatching process, including video, see Hatching Additions to the `Alala Flock.) So far, three of the chicks required a certain degree of meticulous and painstaking assistance, since there was a chance that they may not have made it on their own.
Once a chick has hatched, we essentially switch off the lights and leave it for a few hours to regain its strength. However, we do remove its eggshell, which we keep for subsequent chromosomal analysis of the blood remnants in the membranes to ascertain the chick’s gender.
During the hatching process, the embryo retracts its yolk-sac through its umbilicus into its abdomen, resulting in a very round belly and yellow areas clearly visible through the skin of the abdominal wall. This yolk-sac provides a valuable source of nutrition in the early days of a chick’s life; it is essential that the chick metabolizes its yolk-sac to prevent this becoming stagnant and leading to a life-threatening infection. Consequently the chick’s first feeds are relatively small and feature, among other food items, bee larvae‑a great source of liquid to keep the chick well hydrated.
As the chick grows, we increase its food intake. Initially the diet also includes cricket guts and scrambled egg. As the chick develops, we start to incorporate papaya, whole cricket abdomens, pinky mice, and waxworms, which are some of the items they will eat as adults. Since `alala are a species which, as adults, regurgitate a cast (pellet) of indigestible food, we must be cautious to slowly introduce the chicks to food that is high in chitin, such as insect exoskeletons. Throughout the chick’s development, we calculate its daily food intake, as well as its consumption of calcium. We must be careful that the chick’s body mass does not exceed its skeletal development, particularly in the leg bones – the last thing we want is a chick with a broken leg or rickets.
So far, we have been lucky enough not to face any major problems in the rearing of these chicks. In the past, `alala have proven particularly challenging to rear in their first ten days of life, due to weakness, poor begging response, and a compromised immune system, possibly as a result of inbreeding depression. Only one chick has given us cause for concern when it went through a long period of failing to produce fecals. Like all good animal keepers, we closely monitor the quantity and quality of fecal production, since it provides a valuable insight into the health of the chick. After modifications to increase the proportion of moisture in the diet, enemas, and internal manipulation of the chick’s swollen back end, manual stimulation of the cloaca proved the key in encouraging the chick to pass the huge back-log of fecal material, and it has now returned to good health.
What these young `alala lack in the “cute and fluffy” factor (blind, mostly naked, with typically only a little down on their heads), they make up for in personality. At this age, they can seem to be a little moody, and even appear to “give some attitude” if they don’t want to be bothered. Equally, they can be highly vociferous when expecting to be fed. This means that working in our hand-rearing rooms presents a delightful experience. These are still early days for these chicks; we only begin to relax slightly when a chick is fledged and weaned. However, we are doing everything possible to ensure these chicks stay healthy, and equally crucially, we hope to have number of new additions to the flock soon. Keep your fingers crossed!
Lynne Neibaur is a senior research associate at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center.
Richard Switzer is the conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.
Fabulous picture! Wishing them good health and long life!
Wow, you guys do it all! From the feeding to the excrement process.
Great job and a wonderful success story.
I am continually amazed by how much care all of the animals under the auspices of the SDZ receive!! Kudos to all of you for your excellent skills!!
A fascinating process of raising these little chicks and a great blog describing all you are doing to save them.
I echo Diana S.’s sentiments above.
This is really great news, particularly since the ‘alala has had such a difficult time producing viable young. Hopefully you’ll post an update on the total number of ‘alala that hatch successfully once the hatching season is completed. Your success really is impressive. Thank you for all your efforts to preserve this remarkable bird.
Michael Westerfield
crows.net
I love crows and ravens. I am so happy to read of the successful breeding of the Hawaiian crow. Years ago I bought a T shirt with a picture of the alaia on the back with information of only 20 of them in existence. I thought the crows were being raised on Maui by the same people involved with the reintroduction of the perrigne falcon. I also was told by a friend that some crows were released on Maui and were killed/ eaten by the Maui hawk. Is any of this true?
Aloha Eve Lyn,
Much of what you mention is absolutely spot-on. But I hope the following helps to clarify the history of our program and `alala recovery for you…
In the early 1990s, there were only 20 `alala in existence, which included both wild birds on the Big Island and the captive birds on Maui.
Since 1993, The Peregrine Fund (TPF) had been involved in the recovery program for the `alala, at the request of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). But being raptor specialists, TPF recruited Cyndi Kuehler, who had previously been managing the Avian Propagation Center at the San Diego Zoo. Initial efforts focused on harvesting wild `alala eggs, artificially incubating the eggs, hand-rearing the chicks and reintroducing them to the wild. This process was a significant success, with 27 `alala being released back into the wild. Unfortunately the long-term survival of the `alala in the wild was not successful and arguably reflected insufficient measures to tackle the problems that had been responsible for the `alala’s decline in the first place – sub-optimal habitat for finding food, due to habitat degradation by ungulates (despite supplemental feeding in the early stages after release); mammalian predators such as cats and mongoose; introduced diseases, such as avian malaria, avian pox and toxoplasmosis. But it was a very valuable learning experience for future restoration efforts for the `alala.
When it became obvious that the `alala were not going to have a secure future in wild, TPF started the construction of the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (KBCC) on the Big Island and the development of the Hawai`i Endangered Bird Conservation Program, in collaboration with the USFWS and State of Hawai`i Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW). The primary goal of KBCC was to establish a reliable “captive safety net” population for the `alala. In 1996, DOFAW asked TPF to take over the management of their bird facility on Maui that also held a few `alala, from which point it became known as the Maui Bird Conservation Center and it was incorporated into the management of the HEBCP.
The San Diego Zoo had been happy to support and collaborate with TPF, especially on veterinary and wildlife disease issues, as well as animal behavior and other research areas. In the year 2000, the San Diego Zoo and the TPF amicably negotiated a transition in management, which resulted in the HEBCP becoming a program of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. And here we are!
With regard to you question about predation by hawks…
One of the outcomes of the 1990s release process was learning that the Hawaiian hawks (a.k.a. `io) were preying upon a proportion of the released birds. `Io are native to the Big Island of Hawai`i and are likely to have always been a predator on `alala to a small extent… even though it is a very brave `io that tackles an adult `alala. But `io are considered to be only one piece of the puzzle. It has been speculated that several other factors may have exacerbated predation by the `io:
1) Destruction of the forest understory by pigs, goats and sheep, reducing the opportunities for `alala to hide from `io (who tend to hunt in the canopy).
2) The introduced diseases may well have been impacting the `alala, making them less adept at escaping from the attacks of `io. (Certainly these diseases are known to heavily compromise and in some cases kill native Hawaiian birds, including the released `alala.)
3) Captive-bred birds may not have learned the correct behaviors to escape from the attacks of `io.
These are issues which we aim to ameliorate in future release efforts.
One last note: None of the 1990s `alala releases actually took place on Maui – all were on the Big Island. And in fact, only the Big Island has a population of `io – there are none on Maui.
Many thanks for your interest!
Rich Switzer
Conservation Program Manager, HEBCP.
Thank you for the information. What is required to raise alala? I live on Kauai. I have seen hawks on this island, although that was several years ago. I read a comment somewhere on this site suggesting the alala be released closer to populated areas. This seems a good idea to me. Food would be more available through human sources, the hawks could eat the rock doves(pigeons) and the feral cats could help them. There are lots of pigeons on Kauai. On the mainland, New Jersey, the crows moved into the towns after the roads were build through the forests where they lived. I grew up seeing crows when I would drive to a reservation and walk my dog. 20 years later they were in town, around my parents house, I thought it was strange. They are very adaptable and seemed to thrive. Is it a federal law that one can not keep a crow or raven? Can one shoot crows in some states ( Maine?) where they are considered vermin?