Small Kaua'i Thrush

Photo By: Eric VanderWerf / Pacific Rim Conservation

The Small Kauaʻi Thrush, also known as the puaiohi (pronounced Poo-eye-o-hee) is a critically endangered species that has recently produced young in nest boxes put up by the Pacific Rim Conservation and the Kauaʻi Forest Bird Recovery Project. It's a small bit of good news, according to the American Bird Conservancy, for a species in decline, like many island creatures, because of invasive species. In the case of the puaiohi, they're under attack from everything from rats, which invade their nests, to pigs, which disrupt the forests where they live, and from plants that alter the forest habitat to mosquitoes that carry avian pox and other new diseases.

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