This is Bird Note.

Because of invasive species and climate change, many of the native birds of Hawaii are endangered, or have gone extinct.

Sam Ohugan, senior scientist and cultural advisor for the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii,

says the IEV holds a special place in native Hawaiian culture.

The bright red honey creeper is one of the largest native forest birds.

When an IEIV flies down into a Ohi tree that has birds such as Apapane or Amakithi in it,

they all vacate because the EEV is the dominant bird there.

Hawaiians notice that.

And so the EEV is the symbol of royalty.

And the EEV was the bird that provided the scarlet, the brilliant red, of Hawaiian featherwork.

And so because the EEV is the last extent Hawaiian featherwork bird,

it is the last living connection to that huge part of Hawaiian culture.

And so it's almost unthinkable to me that the EV should be allowed to go extinct.

Because then we would read about Hawaiian featherwork and how spectacular it was

and would all be historical and all be in the past.

No living reminder of those times. I've seen and heard this

spectacular bird on Kaua'i and Oahu and Maui and Hawaii islands, and the fossil record indicates

it was on every single island. It always lifts me to experience them in native forest. Their calls take me

hundreds of years into the past and to a time of abundance. Hawaiian speak of Pilina, which is

connection. These birds, they connect us to our ancestors and to our place, right? They provide a real important part of Hawaiian identity,

and that to me is definitely worth protecting.

Sam's work tries to bridge traditional Hawaiian knowledge

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