ʻAlalā (Hawaiian crow)

How it was counted

This is a head count of the birds released on Maui: each is known, and Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project checks them every day. The number covers birds living in the forest as of November 2025; birds then waiting in the release aviary, due out within weeks, and those in the breeding centres are not in it.

Every animal counted: each released bird on Maui is known, so 5 is the whole number in the forest as of November 2025, not an estimate.

What moves it

Hawaiʻi's DLNR names the main pressures as species that are not native, lost habitat and diseases brought in from outside (toxoplasmosis, avian malaria and pox). In earlier releases on Hawaiʻi Island, DLNR reports, some birds were killed by the ʻio (the native Hawaiian hawk) and others by predators that are not native or by bad weather; the Maui release site has no ʻio.

• non-native species, habitat loss and introduced diseases (toxoplasmosis, avian malaria, pox). Source: Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project.
• deaths among birds released on Hawaiʻi Island in the 1990s and in 2016 to 2019, some to the native ʻio (Hawaiian hawk), others to introduced predators and bad weather; the Maui release site has no ʻio. Source: Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project.

Who is helping

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance runs the breeding centres on Maui and at Keauhou on Hawaiʻi Island that care for ʻalalā. Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, with the ʻAlalā Project partners, planned the Maui release, checks the released birds every day and gives them extra food.

The next count

No date is known for the next count; this number is updated on a birth or death.

Sources

• Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Last checked 12 November 2026.
• Maui Forest Bird Recovery ProjectʻAlalā Recovery Last checked 12 November 2026.

What changed

• 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): 5 (Head count, November 2025).

Every change on the site