STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
For the first time in years, an endangered bird is flying free in Hawaii.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALALA CAWING)
INSKEEP: That's the sound of the alala, a rare crow that's only found in the Hawaiian Islands. The alala. (Singing) A-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.
The bird went extinct in the wild in 2002 and has survived only in captivity since - until recently when a few were released in the forests of Maui. Here's NPR's Lauren Sommer.
LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Very few people have seen an alala because the only place they've existed is in a handful of buildings.
(SOUNDBITE OF KEYS JANGLING)
JENNIFER PRIBBLE: So the building that we just entered is one of our alala buildings.
SOMMER: Jennifer Pribble works at the Maui Bird Conservation Center. It's home to some of the rarest birds in the world - including the alala, which are kept in special enclosures. They're large black birds. And as a species of crow, they're very chatty.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALALA CAWING)
PRIBBLE: So they have quite an extensive language.
SOMMER: These birds were brought into human care in the 1970s when it was clear they were on a path to extinction. The forests they relied on were disappearing. Invasive predators and disease also took a toll. So this facility is a last resort - an attempt to keep them on the planet by setting up a breeding program.
PRIBBLE: And so we've built the breeding program up from about eight founders. So all the birds - all the alala that exist in the world have eight great-great-great-grandparents, basically.
SOMMER: Now there are around a hundred of them. These birds aren't the only animals in this situation. Hawaii has more endangered species than any other state, and more and more of them are being brought into captivity as a last-ditch effort to save them.
PRIBBLE: There's facilities for insects. There's facilities for plants. Like, everything that is native to Hawaii is threatened.
SOMMER: Getting these animals back into the wild is the goal, but it's not as simple as just setting them free. For one, the crows here have gotten used to human care, even though the staff tries not to interact with them. A small group of crows was released on Hawaii a few years ago, but many became prey for hawks. Now they're trying another release on Maui, where there aren't any hawks, and they're starting with releasing five young crows.
PRIBBLE: So the birds that are going to be released are about a year old, so they haven't learned lots of bad behaviors. They're inquisitive. They're still learning things.
SOMMER: Then the big day came.
UNIDENTIFIED HAWAII RESIDENTS: (Singing in non-English language).
SOMMER: The birds were sent off in a traditional ceremony from the Native Hawaiian group Na Hanona Kulike 'O Pi'ilani. Alala are sacred in Hawaiian culture. Then they were loaded onto a helicopter, to be released in a remote forest.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER BUZZING)
SOMMER: So far, the birds are doing well.
HANNA MOUNCE: It's extremely hopeful.
SOMMER: Hanna Mounce is the manager of the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, which helped release the birds. She says they're getting to know their forest home.
MOUNCE: It's, like, this teenage gang, and it's really funny to see how they interact with each other. And, you know, they help each other and hand each other food.
SOMMER: The crows are still getting some food from her team as they learn to find food for themselves. That's what's difficult when you bring animals into captivity, Mounce says - they have to learn to be wild again and still need human help. But it's a big step forward.
MOUNCE: Conservation challenges in Hawaii are immense and complicated and difficult. So, you know, the fact that this release has actually happened and that these birds, at least for now, are doing extremely well is so exciting.
SOMMER: With so many of Hawaii's species in peril, she says every win is important.
Lauren Sommer, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF JERRY BYRD'S "SERENADE TO NALANI") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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