Moving birds in Hawai'i: Translocation and an ethics of creaturely movement

• In Event: Global Animals: Science and Technology

Abstract

In September of 2011, a delicate cargo of 24 Nihoa Millerbirds was carefully loaded by conservationists onto a ship for the three-day voyage to Laysan in the remote Northwest Hawaiian Islands. In subsequent years more of these birds made this same journey, part of an effort to establish a second population of this endangered species in response to the mounting pressures of climate change and new biotic arrivals, including predators, competitors, and diseases. But the millerbird is just one of the many avian species to become the subject of this kind of “assisted colonisation” in Hawai'i. Recent years have seen a broad range of efforts to safeguard the islands’ few remaining endemic birds by finding them new, or returning them to old, homes.

This paper explores these diverse efforts, situating them within the much longer, deep time, history of arrivals, speciation, and extinctions that have characterised this volcanic island chain. The Hawaiian Islands are living testimony to the marvellous capacities of plants and animals to move themselves; as each island emerged from the ocean devoid of life, living beings made their way to these distant places by wind, wing, and wave, and settled in. Engaging with the efforts of biologists, indigenous peoples, and activists to understand and contribute to these movements, this paper asks about the stories we tell about island animals’ comings and goings, their roles and relationships, exploring the possibilities for an ethics of creaturely movement in this period of ongoing reshuffling and transformation of our living world.

Author

• Thom van Dooren, University of Sydney