Meet the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, the fourth and final creature in my extinction series!

This cute little hawaiian bird disappeared in the 1980s thanks to habitat loss and the introduction of invasive animals such as rats and pigs.

For me, personally, their story hits especially hard thanks to an utterly heartbreaking audio recording of the last living bird singing a courtship song, calling out to his mate. He of course gets no response. At the time of recording he was presumed to be the last of his species, and his mate was almost certainly dead as she hadn't been seen in years.

If you're curious you can find the recording on YouTube. Just search Kauaʻi ʻōʻō song. But uh, if you're already feeling a little blue maybe save it for later because OOF.