That's a headline from a 1931 edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, back when it was cool to bring non-native species to Hawaiʻi on purpose. Starting in the 1920s and continuing into the 1960s, the Hui Manu Society sponsored the introduction of several songbirds to Oʻahu and intentionally released them into the wild.
In this instance, Hui Manu ordered 40 pairs of Northern mockingbirds from California in order to "liberate" them in Mānoa and Nuʻuanu.
According to the article, "Hui Manu was particularly impressed with the bird's song, which the members thought would add something missing from Hawaii's present charms."
Hui Manu was right about one thing — something was missing. By the early twentieth century, the lowlands of Hawaiʻi had lost many of its native songbirds to introduced predators, disease, and habitat destruction.
Ninety years later, we have better conservation strategies. But we have yet to see our endemic species reclaim their territory throughout Hawaiʻi.
Northern mockingbirds can learn over a hundred different songs. They can emulate other species and sounds, such as frogs, crickets, dogs, car alarms, and squeaky gates. Some of our endemic species, like the ΄apapane, are also known to mimic other birds, but none as well as the Northern mockingbird.
Audio credit: Peter Boesman/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (ML289372)
