How millions of mosquitoes could save Hawaii's endangered birds

The 'i'iwi is one of Hawaii's honeycreepers, forest birds that are found nowhere else. There were once more than 50 species. Now, only 17 remain. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Ryan Kellman/NPR

To a lot of people, mosquito bites are annoying. To the rare Hawaiian honeycreeper, they're deadly.

Mosquitoes aren't native to Hawaii. They carry avian malaria. And honeycreepers, tiny birds that are found only on the Hawaiian islands, haven't yet evolved the immune defenses to fight back.

The effects have been devastating. There used to be more than 50 species of honeycreepers. Today, there are just seventeen — and several are on the edge of extinction.

On Maui, the second-largest of the Hawaiian islands, parts of the native forest are at elevations too cold for mosquitoes to survive. But higher average global temperatures mean that this natural habitat for the birds is shrinking. The honeycreepers are in danger once again.

Bird conservationists in Maui have tried familiar routes: Planting more trees, establishing breeding programs. But now they're trying new innovations — like releasing millions of mosquitoes incapable of mating into the wild as a form of population control.

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This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez, and fact-checked by Lauren Sommer and Ryan Kellman. The audio engineer was Gilly Moon.