Fourth-graders from Kauai’s Island School will be releasing fledging endangered seabirds today.

The birds, Newell’s shearwaters, have been rehabilitated in the Save Our Shearwaters Program, which is a state Department of Land and Natural Resources forestry and wildlife project administered by the Pacific Co-operative Studies Unit of the University of Hawaii. The Save Our Shearwaters Program is housed at the Kauai Humane Society.

As part of the same program, students from Wilcox Elementary School on Thursday released five fledgling Newell’s shearwaters, or ao.

Both releases are part of the annual E Ho‘opomaika‘i ‘ia na Manu ‘A‘o (A Cultural Release of the Native Newell’s Shearwater) event by Save our Shearwaters and the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project.

The ao is an endangered seabird found only on the Hawaiian Islands. Kauai is the last main refuge of the species, with an estimated 90 percent of the world population found on the island, according to a Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project press release.

"This event gives local schoolchildren the chance to see and appreciate these unique birds," said Brooke McFarland, an avian conservation research associate with the recovery project, who organized the event. "By talking to children about the conservation issues surrounding this species, and highlighting the fact that Kauai is the last main refuge in the world for the ao, we can inspire the next generation into helping protect the species."