HOME | DD

Description
MerMay 2020 - 29

The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, a now extinct bird once endemic to the island of Kaua'i, Hawaii, had distinct yellow leg feathers in contrast to their mostly black feathers and beak, nesting in tree cavities, feeding mostly on nectar, and mating for life.

In 1986 a group of ornithologists trying to find the last surviving ʻōʻō managed to record its singing on a tape recorder it before it flew away. When they rewound and played it back to check what they had gotten, the bird miraculously came back. But they realized that it came back only because it had heard another bird, after having never heard from another for so long. It was the last one there ever was.

When you listen to its song, you can hear the silences where the ʻōʻō waits for a reply.

It's supposed to be a duet.

Description
MerMay 2020 - 29

The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, a now extinct bird once endemic to the island of Kaua'i, Hawaii, had distinct yellow leg feathers in contrast to their mostly black feathers and beak, nesting in tree cavities, feeding mostly on nectar, and mating for life.

In 1986 a group of ornithologists trying to find the last surviving ʻōʻō managed to record its singing on a tape recorder it before it flew away. When they rewound and played it back to check what they had gotten, the bird miraculously came back. But they realized that it came back only because it had heard another bird, after having never heard from another for so long. It was the last one there ever was.

When you listen to its song, you can hear the silences where the ʻōʻō waits for a reply.

It's supposed to be a duet.