My cousin, Catie Westfall, took this photo of a nēnē on Hawaii’s Big Island:
The nēnē (Branta sandvicensis) is actually an offshoot of the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) that wound up colonization the Hawaiian Islands.
The nēnē is the last surviving descendant of this colonization by Canada geese 500,000 years ago. The nēnē-nui or wood-walking goose and the Giant Hawaiian goose were also derived from this colonization, but they have since died out.
The nēnē almost followed them. As a ground-nesting bird, they were vulnerable to predation from mongooses, and their young and eggs were vulnerable to cats. Only 30 were surviving by 1952. Today, about 800 of them live in the wild. One of the people most instrumental in saving the species was Sir Peter Scott (of Loch Ness monster fame), who successfully bred the in captivity in England. He eventually established a breeding population at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust preserve at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, where a large flock of Hawaiian geese still exists today.
Birds that were born at Slimbridge have since been reintroduced to Hawaii and have augmented the genetic diversity of the Hawaiian flocks, which was a major concern for the species.
For those unfamiliar with the pronuncation, it is “nay-nay,” which supposedly refers to its call.
I haven’t heard one before, but I would think they would make a honking sound– as we all know Canada geese regularly do.
