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Hello and welcome to the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association.

I'm Nate Swick.

Before we get to this week's episode, the January, this month in birding, some news that is a little sad.

We are nearing the end for one of Hawaii's native forest birds, though we've known it for some time.

The Aki Kiki, a little warbleryy nut hatch, honey creeper found only on the island of Kauai,

has seen its wild population plummet from 40-ish individuals a year ago to now, as few as one,

certainly no more than three.

We've spoken here about Hawaiian birds in the past, interviewed researchers from the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Project,

which have been monitoring at Kikiiki and others of the last few years and capturing some for a

captive breeding project, which has its own issues and may or may not be successful.

So we've certainly seen the writing on the wall for some time that that doesn't

make the news any less distressing when it finally comes. The primary culprit, unsurprisingly,

is avian malaria carried by mosquitoes that are able to reach the highland territories of

this bird on the island of Kauai because of global warming. It makes these previously inhospitable areas

hospitable to insects. Rats and other invasive mammals and plants are secondary causes,

...