 And Mrs. Hawaii is my mainland, live streamed Fridays at 3 p.m. keeping it on the bright side and off the grid. Manu Oku, the official bird of the city and county of Honolulu, is being celebrated next week Saturday, May 20th at the second annual Manu Oku Festival. With me to talk about these beautiful winged-axe grubats are Ashin Sidiki, seabird and waterbird coordinator with the Division of Forestry and Wildlife at the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Benton Kaili Peng, Ph.D. biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Joni Peters, coordinator of the Manu Oku Festival and administrator for the Conservation Council for Hawaii, Ana Aikako, Honolulu. So, last year was so much fun. I mean, we didn't know what we were doing really, Joni, but now we're all a little more relaxed because it was such a good time. I know, and it was really popular and well-received in the community. So, give us some of the basic details. What is it? So, this year we're having it at the Iolani Palace grounds at the Coronation Lawn right outside of the Iolani Palace, where it will be on May 20th and it will be from 11 to 3 o'clock. And we will be having two very big craft and activity tents with 24 partners. And people will be able to do crafts, games, and just learn about the Manu Oku. We'll also be having tours, Manu Oku tours will be having a scope. They will try to be, they will try to scope a check so that people can come up and look at a live check. We're also having some characters, some custom character, characters from Metagode. I'm sure you all remember Lani Mu, Lani Mu will be there, also with Kavika Mu. We're also having a custom character come from the Mainland from National Wildlife Federation. His name is Ranger Rick, and so we'll have a lot of fun things for the kids. We'll have free entertainment, we have snacks, we have a custom contest. So I hope everybody dresses up. It's a nature custom contest. That was one of the surprise, really amazing things. People did just incredible things making costumes. There was this toddler that was in a, maybe we'll see the picture of it, an octopus. That's why I thought it was so cute. And then these two little bugs, and then Michelle Schwenkela, whose artwork was in the Honolulu Biennial, she crocheted a Manu Oku with a fish in its mouth and made a very cute, very cute, very cute, she and her son have it, so we never know what's going to happen. But so Manu Oku, these birds, why did they get chosen? Do you know, Kelly? I think what spurred it on was 2007, the Mayor Mufi Hanaman established a proclamation, recognizing the Manu Oku, the white term, as the official bird of Honolulu. Up to that time, it was recognized by the Fish and Wildlife Service being protected and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is recognized by the state of Hawaii as a threatened bird. But this is a unique bird that only, mainly exists in the main Hawaiian islands, only on Oahu, and right now the southern part of Oahu. And so it had a specialist significance to the county of Honolulu. And I think Mayor Mufi Hanaman recognized in that and with efforts of conservation council for Hawaii and some biologists were able to help write up a proclamation recognizing the bird. Culturally, we know the bird is important to navigators. When the bird goes out to search for food, navigators from offshore an island can see that and it will point them in the direction of where the bird is coming from. And as the bird flies back to Fetus Yang with the food in its mouth, the navigators too can follow the bird back to and find the island where those birds are nesting. But these birds migrate. You said they're migratory. So how far do they go? Well, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, they're found on many of the islands, Midway, for example, Laysan, most of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands that you find many white turns there. And but in the main Hawaiian islands from Kaua'i to Hawaii Island, we only find them on Oahu, which is kind of unusual. We have about 700 birds that were found in study in 2003 and about 75% of those birds are all breeding. They don't venture too far off the island. They only go to find fish and they come back to their nest and feed their chicks. So right now in the main Hawaiian Islands, only Oahu and maybe again the southern shore of Oahu doesn't, it's not found past Hickam Air Force Base to the west, it's not found eastward past New Valley. So kind of a restricted area where you find the white turn in the main Hawaiian Islands. But in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, they're all over the place. But for us, living on the main Hawaiian Islands, you want to see them. You only see them mainly in downtown Honolulu, Kapiulani Park, parts of New Valley. I live in New, so I get to see them. You're familiar with them? They're one of my annual markers. But you say they live here full time? I thought they just came back from nesting. I only see them part of the year. Yeah, they are here throughout the year. They primarily are nesting from January to April. Mosin nesting, fledgling is occurring in March. So we're just a little bit past the primary nesting season. But there have been observations of eggs and nesting chicks throughout the year. But most of this I'm constricting in the beginning of the year. I guess we used the wrong word. Didn't we? Nesting season. Oh. That's right. That's one key element that I forgot to mention is that another unique aspect of this bird is that it doesn't produce a traditional nest. It doesn't go and get twigs or leaves of grass to form a nest. It lays directly in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands on the ground in small trees. Some mad made structures in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. And then on Oahu, because we have a lot of cats and mongoose and other predators, they're found in taller trees, kukui, mahogany, monkey pod. And the egg is laid directly onto the branch and balances there. And the mother or father is on top of that egg for, anywhere from two to three months until the chick comes out of that egg and the chick will stay there on that branch. So yes, there is no traditional nest per se. The egg is bare right on the branch and it delicately balances on that branch until it's ready to hatch. That seems like a really fragile way to do reproduction. What shape are these birds in as far as populations? What is their status? Yeah, so we just did a study that was completed in 2016. And so the population actually, from the last census we did, which was in 2002, has dramatically increased actually their population. So we have about 2,300 birds now. Wow, that's quite a big difference. So we had about 700 in 2003 publication and now it's 2,300. 2,300 of which about 1,400 are breeding pairs. So they're doing really well. Now how do you know that? Well, I personally did not go out and count all these birds, but we did have Eric Banderworth along with Rich Downs. They did a lot of the survey work with other volunteers as well, helping out and they counted all these birds. Well, how can they, they look so similar? I mean, they don't have a lot of markings where you could, I mean they're all white, the little black eyes, the little black beak. So how do they know which bird is which? So these birds generally they'll nest in the same tree. So they'll come back and they'll nest where they nested the previous year. And so when they're nesting, they're there for quite some time because they're coming back, they're sitting on their eggs for like a benton set about a month or so. And then once the chicks hatch, they're constantly going back and feeding the chicks every day. And so it's pretty easy to monitor. They're pretty conspicuous in terms of where they're going. Well, that sounds like a lot of leg room to track down those kind of numbers. But you also knew which ones were part of nesting pairs or whatever we call it, and which weren't. How do you, if the bird isn't going to, do they, even when they're not taking care of young, do they go to particular trees? Yeah, so they just observe the behavior of the bird and then they recognize whether or not they're breeding that year or not. And so these birds will pretend some of them nest once a year but some of them nest up to three times a year. Wow. Yeah. Okay, so now I wonder we got our numbers up. But that's incredible really given that Oahu, they haven't been here a long time, I sort of remember from last year. The first sighting was in 1961 of a breeding pair at Cocoa Head, East Honolulu. So ever since the 1960s, there had been biologists just with Audubon Society volunteers who had been tracking these birds. And then now we have this recent study to continue that work that started in the 60s. But it's kind of unusual. In 1960 is when the first observations began here on Oahu and it's the only place in the main Hawaiian islands we know the white turn exists. And it's also interesting because the range hasn't really changed even though the numbers have increased but the density of the birds have changed. I know in just the years that I've been, I've been four and a half years where I live now and some years we have more pairs than others. This year we only have two pairs. Two years ago we had three pairs. But I guess, you know, things happen and I don't know what's the lifespan of the birds. Does anybody know? The oldest one that we are aware of is 42 years old. Oh yeah. So that's a long one. That's amazing. Do they have just one chick at a time? Yes. Okay. So on the migratory part, some of them are migratory and some of them aren't. I mean I'm a little confused because you said they stay relatively close to home wherever that is but they're also a migratory bird. Well they're protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and they do migrate in terms of feeding but I think their home is like the birds that are here in Honolulu, they stay here generally but we do get birds from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in terms of how far they're going from here we don't really know. Well it's not like the Kolea where it's got an annual track or something like that. No, these birds are resident all year. Okay, okay. And besides the use as a trap for navigation, was there ever any other sort of cultural mention outside of Hawaii? No, there isn't. But maybe I should translate the name, so Manu Oku. Manu is bird in Hawaiian. Kuu is one of the Hawaiian gods and is usually recognized with fishing and so I think the name that the Hawaiians gave it is maybe reflective of its ability to go onto the ocean, fish for fish and come back. Other than that and is used by navigators, I'm not aware of any other cultural uses of the bird. Unlike other sea birds, we have other uses for feathers for different things. Manu Oku seems to be in the literature only for navigational purposes. So because they weren't, so were they here before? I mean if it was in the traditional literature for navigation and then they were here in the 60s, so maybe they were here before and then they disappeared? Yes, and they may have been found on other main islands as well during the time of the early Polynesians and maybe there was a decline where as more people inhabited the islands that could have occurred. But we're just not sure. There is a big gap in the knowledge of the cultural uses of the bird as well as just this biology. We have knowledge of some forest birds that go back to the 1800s, you know. But for this bird, for the main Hawaiian islands, it's mainly found just on Oahu for some reason. Were the feathers used at all? This bird, we don't know that hasn't been found. That type of information hasn't been found yet. Well let's take a little break and then come back and learn more about these beauties. Okay. This is my main love. I'm Kaui Lucas and today I'm talking with Joni Peters, Kaylee Peng, and Ashin Siddiqui about next Saturday's Manu Oku Festival and not just about the festival, about this beautiful bird. It's so delicate looking and they seem to, often one sees them in pairs. Why is that? Well they have a strong pair bond so you'll see often two birds together and then they're very good parents as well. So when the chick is learning to fly and they stay, when they're juveniles and they can fly, they often stay with the adult for a couple months too so you often see three birds flying together. And so that's the parents are teaching the little one how to fly. I live in the back of a valley and so they spend a lot of time and also I work downtown. As you mentioned Kaylee, you see them all over the place. I was surprised when I heard that they eat fish because they seem to spend so much time having really a lot of fun just flying around and spinning cartwheels and stuff. Do we know anything about that? I mean, there's no fish up there? Why they are in the valley, that's a good question. Well they're seabirds and they do eat, mainly they eat goatfish or flying fish and you'll see them coming, as Benton was saying, coming back with fish in their mouth to feed their chicks and they'll do this every day while their chick is being reared during that time period. But the trees that they're choosing are generally these large trees that they're able to fly in and out of easily and perhaps your valley has a lot of those types of trees that they like, I'm not sure. But the playing in the air thing that they seem to do, I don't know if you see them downtown, I was just wondering, are they just having fun? I mean, we tend to think that animals don't spend a lot of time frolicking, but maybe they do, I don't know. I don't know, biologists can't let you pick. Yeah, I'm not sure, I've been followed by that too, just watching them doing those acrobats in the air following one another and even when I think they're landing on a branch they just hover over the branch and they take off again and the other one's following it. So I don't know, I'm a botanist by training, so I learn what I know about the terms actually from Dr. Eric Vanderwerf. But I am also mesmerized by the way they fly and sometimes you can hear their call which sounds like a small little raspy laugh. Wonderful birds. Thank you for putting, I've been trying all day to think of a way to describe the sound they make. Yeah, me too, it's like a raspy laugh or you can kind of like the joker, that type of repetition, but it's kind of raspy and very unique, very different from a pigeon. Some people might mistake it for a white pigeon but the way it flies and the way it sounds is much different. Joni, back to the event on Saturday, we've been showing a few of the pictures. So what kind of activities do you know? There were some amazing ones for kids to do last time. Can you tell me what we have this year? Yes, I know some of them. We will be making little Manuoku chicks and we auto pom poms and it's really cute. The kids love that. We will also be having some games, relay games where the kids will be holding, or adults, will be holding a little branch with an egg and you have to balance the egg and it's a relay game. So that's one of the more exciting games that we will be having. We will also be having a game that you will be trying to pick up little food and try to put it into a spot just like how the Manuoku adults try to feed their chicks the little fish that they gather. So we have a lot of activities. Metagoda, as I mentioned earlier, some type of relay game and the exciting part of that is the kids will get a little treat, a little cold treat from medical for participating in the game. So a lot of fun activities. So I think I read there were over 20 partners in this. I believe we have 24. Wow, that's for only the second time around for a conservation event. We have doubled what we had last year. Yes, Honolulu, really the gathering place. Wow, yeah, you can see some of them. So talk a little bit about Conservation Council for Hawaii. Sure, Conservation Council for Hawaii is a non-profit organization. We're over 60 years old if I remember correctly and our main goal is to preserve or protect the native species, both plant and animal, and or ecosystems for the future generations. That's our main goal and we do that through things like this Manuoku Festival where we talk and educate about the bird, doing fun things for the bird. We also do some policy work. So that's what we mainly do. We network with other organizations as well. I love that this isn't about selling anything. I love that it's free. It was such a nice atmosphere. It was kind of low-tech in a way, but then some fun high-tech stuff like the viewing and learning about the way the scientists are learning about these. But having this be something that's really more about community, having fun, learning. That's right, because it's open and free to the public. Everything is free. So, yeah, come down. Where are you suggesting people park? Downtown is hard to find parking, I think, but Ilani Palace will have some open parking. Street parking will be available this Saturday. It should be good for street parking. The post office has parking lot across the street. That's really easy. Or maybe a leaky place. That's right, yeah. So, Ashene, now that we know that we have 23 of these gorgeous little things, 2300 of them, are they endangered of being unendangered? Well, we can say they're doing well right now, and there are a number of reasons we think that they're doing well. So, like Benton had mentioned, that they're only found in downtown Honolulu, which is kind of odd. Sea bird in downtown Honolulu, that's where they're thriving. And so, one of the things we think is that there are these big trees around. Businesses that are probably doing some kind of rodent control for whatever reason. And the birds might be benefitting from these types of actions. And as well, they're found, even in Waikiki, they'll be in the median strip where the trees are growing. And there might be less predators there because they were surrounded by this traffic area. So there are less cats, possibly there are less mongoose there. So these types of habitats may be okay for the species. One of the issues that we are always concerned about is there's a lot of tree trimming that's occurring in downtown Honolulu, which has been an issue. You know, if it's done correctly, it's actually, you know, the birds can benefit from the way trees are trimmed, they're trimmed carefully here. I must say I was walking down Richard Street yesterday and they were trimming the trees. And I was looking in the ground. Yeah, and we are working, the state is, and what their partners are working with, some of these tree trimming companies to help identify. Talk to the arborist and he's like, no, we didn't see any of the birds. We looked, we checked. So they know. And a lot of them love these birds too. So it's a good partnership in some cases. There was one in the news recently that was, does anybody know that story? Yeah, it was a state building downtown. News talked about this pair of birds stopping an eight million dollar project. So that was just March. Like I mentioned before, March is one of the prime seasons for the fledgling to come out and eggs. So luckily, some people recognize this as a potential issue. I believe state got involved, our law enforcement got involved, and the contractor was able to just put a stop for a short time until, you know, the nest, the quote unquote nest was left bare, you know, the fledgling would left and the pair mother and father also left. And then the construction could start again. So the tree aspect of it, I know that I'm also involved with the outdoor circle and so we pay a lot of attention to trees. And last year there was some people talking about the trees. I hope they do this year also because that's interesting that here in Hawaii that they're in trees, but in other places they nest on the ground, you said, Fsheen. Or was that... Yeah, they do. Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, you can find them on the ground. You can find them in small shrubs and trees about the size of head height, you know, five, six feet tall. But Honolulu is much, much taller. And excuse me, it's because of predators. We don't have... Northwestern Hawaiian Islands don't have rats and mongoose. And so the birds can be close to the ground. And other seabirds are there as well. But in Honolulu, even though we have a thriving turn population here, they're still threatened by some of the feral cats you see around, rats that come out at night time. But I'm glad to hear that the population is doing so well. So a few years back, I happened to be walking through the palace grounds. One of the chicks had fallen down and somebody knew who to call. Any of you happen to know who to call now? Yeah, so actually there is a Huey Manuakoo Citizen Science Project. And actually there's a person named Richard Downs who's been an amazing volunteer or organizer of this Huey. And he is a person who would be the best person to respond. So how does someone get in touch with him? Yeah, so we have some pamphlets, but I have his phone number I can share. Yeah, sure. Please do. Please do. I should find it. But yeah, he would be the first person to call. So Huey Manuakoo. Maybe people can Google Huey Manuakoo. There is a website. And his number is 410-972-1818. And his name is Richard Downs. And the reason why we want to call him first, because he is able to hopefully put the chick back in its nesting tree, so that the parents will come back and feed it and it'll have a normal life and fudge normally. Because otherwise, and we have, you know, it's a little bit more difficult for the chick to survive if we have to try to rehabilitate it and if it's taken away from where it's naturally found. So the first response is we want to take it back to exactly the tree that it's been found in. Well, thank you all for coming here down to our studio, Think Tech Studio today and talking about this. I hope I will see you at least. Yes. Next Saturday at the Iolani Palace. Thanks for sharing your both of you, all of you. Aloha. Aloha.