Mark MacDonald, a graduate student from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, lead a team that was working with the Service to collect information needed for translocations.

From July through September 2007, MacDonald and his team captured and banded Nihoa millerbirds, collected body measurements, assessed body fat and breeding condition, identified individual territories and analyzed vocalizations, conducted feeding experiments, collected fecal samples, observed behavior to determine diet composition, noted the presence and abundance of non-native grasshoppers, and sampled the insect community on both Nihoa and Laysan to assess the millerbird's potential prey base.

Growth bars visible on the tail feathers can help scientists determine the age of the bird, and comparison of photographs and measurements with results of lab analyses will aid in finding a way to sex Nihoa millerbirds in the field.

Using an iPod and a speaker, the team played millerbird songs within the territories of all 60 banded males and recorded the responses with a microphone.

Preliminary spectrograph analysis of the recordings shows variety among the songs of male millerbirds, but more research is needed to determine if these differences are significant.

Thanks to MacDonald and his team, the Service is one step closer to establishing a second population and greatly reducing the risk of extinction for the Nihoa millerbird.