Rare parrot-like bird thought to have died in 2019 mysteriously reappears in Hawaii

In what is being called a “remarkable discovery,” a rare parrot-like bird believed dead for nearly 2 years has reappeared on the slopes of Hawaii’s Haleakala volcano.

The bird, known as a kiwikiu, was spotted 605 days after being declared dead by experts, according to Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Fewer than 150 of the species survive on Maui, and the re-discovered bird was among seven released in 2019 to see if they could repopulate a forest in Nakula Natural Area Reserve.

Five were later found dead, leading to an assumption all perished in the experiment.

Zach Pezzillo of the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project realized they assumed wrong on July 21.

“I first heard what I thought might be a distant kiwikiu song,” he said in a news release.

“It then sang about 10 times across a gulch in some koa trees. It dropped down into some kolea trees where it spent the next twenty minutes calling and actively foraging through the berries, bark, and leaves.”

He identified the male bird from bands placed on its legs by researchers in 2019.

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Experts say the five birds that died were killed by avian malaria, “which is spread by non-native mosquitoes.”

Kiwikiu live as long as 16 years and are monogamous, typically producing chicks every few years, experts say. The birds were once found “all over Maui and Moloka,” but are now only in the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve, according to state officials.

“Climate change is fueling the spread of avian malaria and conservationists are trying to save the kiwikiu while the landscape is literally shifting under their feet,” state officials said.

It’s believed the rediscovered bird may be immune to the illness, which gives experts hope the ecosystem is returning to normal.

“This bird has been exposed to disease, as the others were, and has somehow persevered,” Hanna Mounce of the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project said in the release.

“This is a hopeful sign that a population of kiwikiu and other native forest birds could survive in restored landscapes in the future, especially without mosquitoes and disease. ... Maybe, just maybe, we can save this incredible species before it’s too late.”

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