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alala chicks

3

Have Bird, Will Travel!

By
Natalie Staples
– September 10, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Animals site sub feature, Birds, Conservation, Hawaiian Birds, Uncategorized

Alala chicks settle in at the KBCC.

My time as an intern and seasonal research associate at the Maui Bird Conservation Center (MBCC) from 2006 to 2007 left quite the impression, so I jumped at the chance to return as a research associate in February 2012. It’s been a nonstop first six months as the newest staff member at MBCC, filled with trips to the Big Island, exciting experiences, and many hungry chick mouths to feed!

The Maui parrotbill breeding season was in full swing upon my arrival at MBCC, and the first chick I participated in raising for the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program was a tiny Maui parrotbill (kiwikiu). A month later, one of our kiwikiu breeding pairs produced another chick. The transfer of this kiwikiu chick to the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (KBCC) on the Big Island presented the perfect opportunity for me to visit KBCC for the first time. Little did I know that I would be visiting the Big Island facility three times within my first five months!

Natalie carefully holds her precious cargo at the airport.

While I have relocated chicks before, this chick was my first transfer via airplane, and it came with its own unique challenges. Kiwikiu are altricial birds, which means that they are entirely reliant upon their parents for food, warmth, and protection when they hatch. Being a 13-day-old altricial bird weighing in at only 14 grams (0.49 ounces), the kiwikiu chick was unable to completely thermoregulate (maintain his own body temperature) by the day of his journey. A miniature heating pad inside his travel carrier provided him warmth throughout the trip. Constantly monitoring the bird’s well-being, making sure all the correct paperwork was present for security purposes, and the plane ride itself made the trip an exciting and nail-biting experience! All of the pieces fit together perfectly, and the short flight to the Big Island went smoothly.

The need to transfer an alala chick from MBCC at the end of June doubled as a chance to stay a bit longer at KBCC to assist staffers with their many alala chicks. Although the MBCC alala chick was a couple of days younger than the kiwikiu chick, she weighed nearly 10 times as much as the kiwikiu! The size of this not-so-little female helped her maintain body heat, and I actually focused on making sure she didn’t overheat during her travels. Frequently checking to make sure she wasn’t too hot resulted in drawing a fair bit of attention from the Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants and fellow passengers. All of this curiosity made an excellent opportunity for educating the public and sharing about the plight of the alala! This second visit to KBCC was filled with great experiences, from the chance to educate the public about the alala to the opportunities to learn about hand-rearing of various ages of chicks and managing the many alala breeding pairs.

A palila chick gets weighed at KBCC.

Less than two weeks later, staff members at KBCC had their hands full of hungry (and LOUD—ear protection required!) alala chicks and needed an extra pair of hands… another chance for me to visit the Big Island and get more experience! By this point, I had the chick routine down and jumped right in to help out. In addition to the large number of alala chicks, KBCC had successfully hatched a palila chick. When the opportunity arose to take a break from feeding the “mob” of alala chicks, I assisted in hand-rearing the young palila. Working with the palila chick allowed me to gain invaluable hands-on experience with this intriguing species.

It’s been an amazing start to my position here at MBCC, and I’m looking forward to many more years working with and learning about these remarkable and unique species!

Natalie Staples is a research associate at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, operated by San Diego Zoo Global.

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4

`Alala Population Soars Past 100

By
Richard Switzer
– June 12, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Hawaiian Birds, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Hatching can be an exhausting process! This brand-new 'alala rests after a successful hatch.

May 13 was an exciting day: our first `alala of the 2012 season hatched at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center! Just like all our previous `alala breeding seasons, this first chick was eagerly awaited and anxiously nurtured through its first few days (see video below). Over the past three weeks, another seven `alala chicks have hatched. Crucially, on May 31, we celebrated reaching the major milestone of 100 ‘alala in the entire world population! This is quite an achievement for a population that was down to a low of 20 individuals in 1994 and is currently considered extinct in the wild. In fact, following subsequent hatches, the population currently stands at 102 birds. We are hoping for several more chicks in the weeks to come.

This is one of Po Mahina's torpedo-shaped eggs.

This year, we have continued to apply the strategy of “assisted hatching” for several of our eggs. For example, our first two chicks are siblings from the same clutch of eggs, and both required assistance to hatch successfully. Their mother, #152 Po Mahina, is only 3 years old, and this was her very first clutch. Already it seems that Po Mahina has a tendency to lay long, narrow eggs, almost torpedo-shaped. This had implications for these two chicks; in the very final stages of the incubation period, each should have been ready to chisel the cap off its eggshell with the egg tooth on the beak. However, in both cases, the chick’s head and neck was wedged so tightly into the narrow egg that they were unable to rotate inside to cut through the shell. Consequently, these chicks were in serious danger of dying from exhaustion or asphyxiation before even having the chance to hatch. In both cases, we performed the avian equivalent of a Caesarian section. With great deliberation, we carefully peeled back the eggshell piece by piece, pausing to investigate for landmarks in the hatching process (such as the retraction of blood vessels and yolk sac) before finally releasing the head and gently extracting the chick from the remnants of its shell.

Helping an 'alala chick hatch takes steady hands!

Obviously, assisting the hatch of a chick from its shell is considered a last resort, a result of the breakdown in the chick’s normal, natural hatching processes. It is quite probable that the high incidence of assisted hatching cases is a consequence of inbreeding depression, caused by the shallow gene pool of the `alala flock. It is tremendously satisfying to watch other hatchlings burst out of their shell under their own steam!

Those first two chicks are now nearly a month old and barely recognizable from the pink, naked, and helpless neonates that were extracted from their shells. With a covering of pin feathers and equipped with a raucous voice to rowdily beg for food, they are making great progress. Eventually, these two will become members of our captive-breeding flock. However, with the `alala population now exceeding 100 birds, our Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program continues to be in a strong position to make plans with our partners for releasing and reestablishing `alala back in the wild.

Richard Switzer is an associate director of applied animal ecology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read his previous post, Maui Bird Conservation Center Open House.

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7

‘Alala: Weighing In

By
Michelle Smith
– October 21, 2011Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Hawaiian Birds, Uncategorized

`Alala Hekili shows his peers how weighing is done.

Keeping a close eye on the health of the birds is very important to us here at the Maui Bird Conservation Center. One valuable way we determine the health and body condition of a bird is through obtaining regular weights. (See also Zoo Hospital: What Do You Weigh?) Traditionally, we would weigh birds by catching them in a net, then transferring them to a box or a bag that could then be placed on a scale. This method required the time of multiple husbandry staff at once and subjected the birds to a certain amount of stress. Stress in birds can be dangerous, and we obviously like to keep our birds as stress-free as possible. Our solution was to convince our `alala to offer us their weight by landing on a freestanding platform that had been placed on a scale. This is called a “remote weight.”

2011 `alala chicks are already at ease with the process.

By using positive reinforcement, the birds of our `alala flock have been conditioned to perch on a freestanding platform that holds their food pans. When individuals are fed on these platforms consistently, it adds little to no stress to move that platform onto a scale to obtain a weight. With this procedure, one staff member can obtain the weights of many birds in one day, with the birds typically unaware of what is taking place!

Laha finds a loophole in the weigh-in process when he uses a stick and some gymnastics to retrieve some apple from the far side of the freestanding food platform.

The younger `alala from 2010 and 2011 have become experts at retrieving rewards from the platforms and have served as good examples for other birds to watch the process. Not everyone is easily convinced, however, and some of our `alala have proven a challenge. It seems as though some of our smarter adults are also rather stubborn, and the conditioning process has developed their crafty side! One of our mature males, Laha, seems determined to prevent us from weighing him and goes to great lengths in order to obtain treats while breaking the rules.

Michelle Smith is a research associate at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, part of San Diego Zoo Global’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program. Read her previous post, New Homes for the Growing Flock.

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8

`Alala Season Begins With Flurry

By
Lynne Neibaur and Richard Switzer
– June 3, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Hawaiian Birds, Uncategorized

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.

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0

Naming ‘Alala Chicks

By
Richard Switzer
– June 29, 2009Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation at the Zoo, Hawaiian Birds

On Sunday, June 7, a group of students from Volcano School of Arts and Sciences, K’au High, and Pahala Elementary School were welcomed on a VIP visit to the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (KBCC) on Hawaii. Four of the children were winners of a contest to name the four `alala youngsters successfully reared during the 2008 breeding season.

The contest was organized by Julie Williams, program coordinator and science resource teacher at Keakealani Outdoor Education Center, which drew in a large number of suggestions. The staff of the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program who had reared the chicks then selected the four names that best suited their individual corvid characters.

The names chosen were:
Iolana – to soar
Ikaika – strong
`Imi pono – to seek goodness
Po`noe – night mist

The worthy winners and their families were then led on a tour of KBCC, where they got the chance to encounter three resident `alala in our education aviary and see puaiohi chicks being hand-reared. Before leaving, each winner was presented with a photographic portrait of the `alala that had received the name they suggested.

Each year, several thousand school children visit KBCC, thanks to programs run by Keakealani Outdoor Education Center, Kamehameha Schools, and other organizations. The visits provide the students with a deeper appreciation for the unique diversity of Hawaiian birds, their habitats and their threats, as well as smiles and even occasional wide-eyed wonderment. We also hope that the students leave with the inspiration to protect and conserve Hawaii’s ecosystems in the future.

Richard Switzer is the conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.

Read previous posts, ‘Alala Takes Extraordinary Flight and Puaiohi: 300th Chick.

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