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Hawaiian Crow

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Hawaiian crow, now extinct in the wild.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the now extinct in the wild Hawaiian Crow. It's hard to imagine any crow becoming endangered, but only a hundred or so the formerly widespread Hawaiian crow survive and all of them in captivity. Also known by its Hawaiian name 'Alala' these sooty black brown crows produce a chorus of caws and screeches. Early settlers in the Hawaiian archipelago reduced their numbers, leaving the remaining populations vulnerable to introduced predators; feral pigs further reduced the fruit-laden understory plants favoured by the crow. The species was last seen in the wild in 2002. All may not be lost. A captive breeding programme overseen by San Diego Zoo is hoping to reintroduce the crows into the wild, so perhaps the Hawaiian forests will once again resound with their calls.

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2 minutes

Last on

Fri 25 Sep 2015 05:58

Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis)

Webpage image courtesy ofΒ Jack JefferyΒ / naturepl.com.

NPL Ref 01473774 © Jack Jeffery / naturepl.com.

Recording of Hawaiian Crow by William V Ward / Ref: ML 13434

This programme contains a wildtrack Β kindly provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; recorded by William V Ward on 12 Aug 1961,Β in Hawai County, Hawaii.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 6 Oct 2014 05:58
  • Fri 25 Sep 2015 05:58

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