Hear, hear!

"Your strange hunger for ease should not mean a death sentence for the rest of Creation." - Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

We set down on a patch of yellow grass. "It naturally turns a shade close to this one," Raven was pulling at a blade of grass with such tenderness my heart slowed, then raced. "But this field has been sprayed." That was what my heart knew before my head caught up. "It's in the way." With his wing and bill the Black Bird pointed to a solid black coil that wound around boxes and walls splitting into arms in front of the boxes. "Gated Community." I recognized the scene.

"This one is not far from your own mudflats, and our flight pattern has just begun." Raven was uncommonly serious. No banter or riddles, Dumpling felt a shiver in her toes and wished this was someone else's dream. This time Raven took both her hands encircling them about his neck. "Hold onto the beard! Hold tight." Dream travel is a miraculous mode of time, and relativity. As Dumpling did as she was told, the bird was now no less large as an Eagle. His wings combed the air, the sound like a great beast's heart beating.

From Raven's back Dumpling could see Ocean. From their position in the sky it was possible to see the coral reefs, songs of Whales bounced off the waves that rolled, specks of islands rose in a strand. Raven began his descent. "I've brought you here to visit a cousin," his voice was strong. Dumpling hoped this stop was a shift, a bit of socializing in dream time was one of the gems of astral travel.

A large wire enclosure ran the length of tropical forest. The smell of sulphur stung Dumpling's eyes and throat. "Volcanic?" she asked. "Yes, we are on the largest of the Hawaiian chain of islands." The light in the forest was soft. It was morning here. A sign about the size of a magazine cover front and back hung off one of the narrow sides of the enclosure.

ALALA
Habitat & Behavior:Endemic to the Big Island, this crow favored the upland forests between 3,000 to 6,000 feet in elevation on Hualalai and Mauna Loa. They were most often found in ‘ōhi‘a or ‘ōhi‘a-koa forests. The ‘alalā is omnivorous, preferring fruits of native trees and shrubs, but also eating insects, mice, and sometimes the nestlings of small birds.
Breeding usually occurs from March through July. The ‘alalā lays one to five greenish-blue eggs, but only two survive. The family groups stay together until the young learn to fly and eat on their own. The ‘alalā has a crow-like call: “cawk” or “ca-wak” but they also make many other sounds. Their vocalizations are more musical and varied than most other crows.
The ‘alalā’s natural predator is the ‘io (Hawaiian Hawk). Chicks are very vulnerable to tree-climbing rats, and after they leave their nests, to cats, dogs, and mongooses.
Past & Present:Since 1973, there has been extensive research on the ‘alalā. They were once abundant in the lower forests of the western and southern sides of the island of Hawai‘i. When coffee and fruit farmers began shooting them in the 1890s, their population was already declining. By 1978, only 50 to 150 crows were believed to exist. Disease, predation by alien mammals, and loss of suitable habitat due to grazing and logging are also factors in the decline of the Hawaiian crow. The last two ‘alalā vanished from their territory in South Kona in 2002.

"This is where Alala lives now. Restoration." Raven's voice resonated deep as drums. Dumpling held to the beating and matched her heart to his words.
"Your cousin?"
" Yes, though they are crows, the kinship thing is more about being Black Birds on their way to being no more. Any small genetic differential? It makes no never-mind. Unless humans get involved and kick in with the caring for the whole ball of wax, their songs will pass into the never-more. They're being raised by hand. Human hands."