Ohio film student follows researchers’ desperate bid on Kauaʻi to save ʻakikiki from extinction

An Ohio college student and filmmaker spent two weeks this summer documenting what could be the tragic end of an endangered native Hawaiian songbird species and efforts by scientists on Kauaʻi scrambling to save the its last members.

Ella Marcil, who grew up in Hawaiʻi and is a digital media student at the University of Cincinnati, was commissioned by the Kauaʻi County Office of Economic Development to document the plight of the ʻakikiki, an endemic species of honeycreeper also called the Kauaʻi creeper. She accompanied the Kauaʻi Forest Bird Recovery Project as it scoured the top of the Halehaha plateau more than 4,000 feet above sea level looking for the bird.

Marcil trekked up the rugged, treacherous mountain pass with researchers to reach the rainy, forested plateau, where they searched for any surviving birds, hatchlings or eggs.

Marcil trekked up the rugged, treacherous mountain pass with researchers to reach the rainy, forested plateau where they would spend nearly two weeks searching for any surviving birds, hatchlings or eggs.

The little gray-and-white songbird used to be a common backyard visitor around the island, said Marcil, but the introduction of avian malaria on Kauaʻi began to devastate populations. ʻAkikiki often went unnoticed because of their dull colors and small size, flitting about the treetops and calling in a high-pitched peep.

“What’s really devastating is the ʻakikiki once was as common as a pigeon on Kauaʻi,” she added.

Birds that lived at higher, cooler elevations were safe for awhile. However, a warming climate allowed mosquitoes to reach higher into the mountains, where the malarial parasite has killed virtually every surviving ʻakikiki.

Exactly how avian malaria arrived in Hawaiʻi is a mystery. People could have introduced it through domestic fowl or far-flying seabirds might have introduced it to the island. But once there, it quickly began decimating birds that had no natural defenses.

Marcil followed researchers as they searched the forest and tried to get any birds to respond to audio playbacks of their calls. Unfortunately, wherever they went, no birds called back.

“You could hear the wind and nothing else,” she said. “It was disheartening.”

Now, researchers are dedicating their attention to a captive-breeding program on Maui for the world’s last ʻakikiki. They also continue working to prevent other endangered native birds throughout the islands from facing a similar fate.

“We have about three species that are just as critical at this point,” said David Smith, administrator for the Hawaiʻi Division of Forestry and Wildlife. “They’re right on the verge of extinction. Literally, some of these species could go extinct within months. They’re just falling out of the sky.”

The state is turning to a control method where biologists release male mosquitoes infected with a natural but incompatible bacteria that renders wild female mosquitoes sterile. Unlike most places in the world, mosquitoes are not native to Hawaiʻi.

“Humans caused this problem,” Marcil said. “So now it’s up to people to fix it.”

Once the documentary is complete, she hopes to enter it into film festivals. She also would like to show it in Cincinnati and on campus.

“I’m proud of this documentary and the way it immortalizes this bird through the lens of the camera,” Marcil said. “It’s a unique story to Hawaiʻi, but it’s a rallying call to protect a species. It shows that people do care. It’s devastating to see, but you can’t give up hope. You have to keep trying.”