Manu Minute
Wednesdays
Need a break in your day? Whether you're in your car or your kitchen, or still in bed, Manu Minute brings you the rich sounds from Hawai'i's native forests and shorelines. Each week, we feature a different Hawai'i bird and its unique song, and talk about its environment and conservation.Trying to identify a bird? Call us on The Conversation's talkback line at 808-792-8217 with your name, where you're from and your email so we can reach you if we have questions.
Manu Minute is a collaboration between HPR and the LOHE Bioacoustics Lab at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. The series is hosted by Patrick Hart, the lab's principal investigator, and produced by HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote and Ann Tanimoto-Johnson of UH-Hilo.
Latest Episodes
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On this Manu Minute, we are dishing up a bird that is often seen but not heard. The ‘iwa, or great frigatebird, flies high above our heads, performing acrobatic feats midair. We’ve got the song of this storied seabird today, thanks to Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. -
Here’s a bird everyone will likely be familiar with — it’s the myna! Myna birds are everywhere. (Really, we wish we were kidding.) They’ve been declared one of the world’s worst invasive species. We’ve got their song for you today, thanks to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
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Few native species in Hawaiʻi are as recognizable as the Nēnē. It's the rarest goose in the world — and a rare conservation success story.
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It’s the season to see kioea! These long-billed shorebirds spend their winters here. They’re not too common on the main Hawaiian islands, so we have their call for you from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in today's Manu Minute.
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The puaiohi isn't the most eye-catching songbird on the Garden Isle, but it does an important job.
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Today, we've got one game bird a long way from home: the Erckel's francolin. Native to Eritrea, Sudan, and Ethiopia, Hawaiʻi is one of only a handful of places you can find an Erckel's francolin outside of Africa.
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With barely more than a hundred remaining individuals in the wild, the endemic kiwikiu one of the rarest and most endangered birds in the world. We have their song for you on today's Manu Minute.
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We're back to seabirds today! And we've got quite the looker. The koa'e kea is one of the most distinctive birds you can spot in the main Hawaiian islands. Its English name, white-tailed tropicbird, references one of its most notable features — its two long, streaming tail feathers. And you can hear their calls on today's Manu Minute, thanks to the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
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Calling all backyard farmers! We're looking at humankind's first alarm clock: the moa, or red junglefowl. Common chickens were likely domesticated from red junglefowl in Asia over 8,000 years ago. We've got both here in Hawaiʻi! Listen to the difference in their crows, thanks to Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, on today's Manu Minute.
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Did you know that Hawaiʻi has Northern mockingbirds? This talented songbird is one of the stars of the bird world in North America — it's even the official bird of five different U.S. states. But it admittedly seems out of place in our islands. Our host Patrick Hart will tell you how they got here and how to find them, and we've got a few of their versatile songs for you as well, thanks to the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
