Birds Do It...Don't They?

By Jeannie McCabe

Even the most overbearing matchmaker has never had a line so good: "The entire future of the species depends on you, kids." The mating season for what may be the rarest bird on earth, the po'ouli, or black-faced honeycreeper, just ended, and researchers in Hawaii were unable to mate successfully two of the three remaining birds in the species. Suffering from habitat loss and disease, the po'ouli faces extinction on the slopes of Maui's Haleakala volcano. Researchers at the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project finally captured one of the two remaining females last month. At dusk the female was released into the territory of the only remaining male. But the next morning, the female po'ouli fluttered homeward without ever encountering the unaware male. "We're disappointed," said project coordinator Jim Groombridge, "but hopeful."

--By Jeannie McCabe