The public will soon be able to vote online to help choose the names for the next 12 ‘alala, or Hawaiian crows, scheduled to be released into the wild later this year.
The names were proposed by a fifth-grade class at Connections Public Charter School, which has been studying the behavior and biology of ‘alala for two consecutive school years, said Rachel Kingsley, education and outreach associate for the ‘alala project, in a news release Monday.
About a year-and-a-half ago, the class also helped artist Patrick Ching paint an ‘alala mural on the back of their school building in downtown Hilo, and in April, the class will visit the San Diego Zoo Global’s Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on the island.
Conservation efforts for the ‘alala have been underway since 2002, when the last pair was observed in the wild and became extinct.
Eleven birds were released into a nature reserve in October and are now thriving, the release said.
A previous attempt in December 2016 was cut short when three of the five birds released were killed within a week of release, two of them by an ‘io.
The online voting process is from April 9-14. For more information, visit facebook.com/alalaproject or instagram.com/alalaproject.