The akikiki, or Hawaiian honeycreeper, maintains a tenuous remnant population in the high native forests of Kauai and Maui, but mosquitoes carrying avian malaria have penetrated these last places of refuge, leading to an extinction-threatening decline for the tiny birds.

In a last-ditch attempt to save the birds, conservationists have been dropping a bacterium that targets those invasive mosquitoes over akikiki habitat on Kauai — and next year, are scheduled to begin interventions on Maui. Akikiki’s dwindling numbers are a “crisis” demanding extraordinary efforts, related Lisa “Cali” Crampton, project manager for the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Project.