Thursday Night at the Center: Finding Home, A Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey with Caren Loebel Fried

Thursday Night at the Center with Caren Loebel Fried

Join artist/author Caren Loebel-Fried for the launch of her new book, Finding Home, A Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey, published by University of Hawai‘i Press. Caren will share the behind-the-scenes of this inspiring story, her adventures researching the endangered ‘Ua‘u, Hawaiian Petrel, in their colonies throughout the Hawaiian Islands and within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and how she created the art for this book. Special guest speakers who inspired this story will present about their work with these cryptic Native seabirds.

‘Ua‘u, Hawaiian Petrels, are endemic Hawaiian seabirds that soar huge distances day and night, powered by wind. They are guided by smell and an inner magnetic map, and only touch land once a year when they meet their life mate at their burrow and together raise one chick. For 60 million years, ‘Ua‘u have made a living off the ocean, nesting in Hawai‘i far from predators. Hawaiian legends tell of seabirds darkening the sky as they returned from the sea. And their guano washed down from the mountaintops, nourishing the land and offshore coral reefs. But since the arrival of humans, ‘Ua‘u numbers have plummeted to near extinction. Finding Home, a Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey is based on the true story of these amazing seabirds and the people working to save them.

Caren’s other award-winning illustrated books include Manu, the Boy Who Loved Birds, A Perfect Day for an Albatross, and Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits. Original art for Finding Home was acquired by the Hawai‘i State Foundation for Culture and the Arts for their “Art in Public Places” program.

Other speakers at this special event include:

Charlotte Forbes Perry, retired biologist PCSU/ Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park high up Mauna Loa, will share information about the Natural History and management of the ‘Ua‘u on Hawai‘i island.

Dr. Michelle Reynolds, wildlife ecologist and certified conservation detection dog trainer and handler, will share about teaching dogs to sniff ‘Ua‘u burrows and ‘akē‘akē, Band-rumped Storm-petrels, and the cryptic seabirds she’s been trying to find since 1992.

Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center’s Linda Elliott, Founder, Center Director and President, of the first and only wildlife rehabilitation, emergency response and conservation facilities for all native birds and bats statewide. Rae Okawa, Development Director of HWC, in charge of all areas of fund development, PR, and outreach, and lead organizer of the annual “Hawaiʻi Island Festival of Birds”. Linda and Rae will share about working with injured ‘Ua‘u and restoring them to their lives in the wild.

After the presentation, Caren will sign copies of Finding Home, A Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey. Art prints and notecards from the book art will also be available for purchase.