Drones Dropping Millions of Mosquitos into Forests of Hawaii in Specicide Attempt

A groundbreaking mosquito control strategy using drones and lab science aims to rescue Hawaii’s endangered honeycreepers before it’s too late

Natalie C. Frank, Ph.D July 25, 2025

Hawaiian Honeycreeper US Fish and Wildlife Service [CC BY 2.0]

KAUAI, HAWAII — From high above the emerald canopies of Hawaii’s forests, drones have begun releasing thousands of mosquitoes packed into biodegradable pods. It sounds like the opening scene of a science fiction movie, but it’s a real-life conservation strategy being urgently deployed to fight a growing ecological catastrophe.

Each pod contains around 1,000 lab-raised, non-biting male mosquitoes infected with a specific strain of a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia. These males pose no risk to humans, and more importantly, when they mate with wild female mosquitoes, the resulting eggs never hatch. The goal: to suppress the mosquito population before it drives Hawaii’s treasured native birds, particularly the honeycreepers, to extinction.

This pioneering effort is unfolding across the islands of Maui and Kauai, where native birds like the ʻakekeʻe and the ‘akikiki are disappearing at an alarming rate. At the center of this battle is the Southern House Mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus), a species introduced to Hawaii nearly 200 years ago and now spreading deadly avian malaria as climate change pushes mosquitoes to higher elevations.

“With climate change, we are seeing warmer temperatures and we’re watching the mosquitoes move up the mountains,” said Dr. Chris Farmer, Hawaii Program Director for the American Bird Conservancy (ABC). “If we don’t break that cycle, we’re going to lose our honeycreepers.”

Avian malaria, a disease that native Hawaiian birds have no natural resistance to, has become the leading threat to their survival. Traditional conservation tools, such as habitat protection or even predator control, are powerless against it.

“The birds are essentially trapped,” Farmer said. “They’ve moved as high up the mountains as they can go to escape the mosquitoes, but the insects are following them.”

The search for a viable solution led conservationists to the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT). This technique hinges on releasing male mosquitoes carrying a specific Wolbachia strain that interferes with reproduction. When these males mate with females in the wild, the resulting eggs are nonviable. Over time, the population declines.

In 2016, ABC and the coalition Birds, Not Mosquitoes began developing a version of IIT tailored for the mosquitoes spreading avian malaria in Hawaii. But success didn’t come overnight.

Between identifying the right strain of Wolbachia, navigating regulatory pathways, and addressing community concerns about releasing millions of mosquitoes into fragile ecosystems, the process took years.

“Whenever you say, ‘I want to release millions of mosquitoes in the forest,’ people have a lot of very legitimate questions,” Farmer noted.

After years of rigorous testing, a breakthrough came. In 2022, production of lab-raised, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes began in earnest at a lab in California. By the following year, the first aerial deployments were carried out via helicopter over remote regions of Maui. The strategy: outnumber the wild males by a ratio of 10:1 to ensure the lab mosquitoes dominate the mating pool.

Today, more than one million mosquitoes are being released each week, split between Maui and Kauai.

Despite early successes, terrain and weather posed consistent challenges. Helicopters, though effective, are expensive and in high demand for other critical operations like firefighting and emergency response. Plus, flights could be canceled at a moment’s notice due to rain, wind, or cloud cover.

This summer, drones became the new frontier.

“We have more flexibility with deployment timing in areas that generally have very unpredictable weather and it’s safer because no humans need to ride in the aircraft to deploy the mosquitoes,” said Adam Knox, aerial project manager with ABC.

With temperature-controlled carriers to protect the delicate mosquitoes, these specialized drones can reach remote areas faster and cheaper than helicopters. According to Knox, drone deployment also slashes costs, reduces carbon emissions, and minimizes noise pollution—making the entire effort more sustainable.

Importantly, this marks the world’s first use of drones to deploy mosquitoes for conservation purposes.

There is no time to waste. Hawaii has already lost more than 30 species of honeycreepers to extinction. Just last year, the ‘akikiki—a soft gray bird once found in Kauai—was declared functionally extinct in the wild. Fewer than 100 ‘akekeʻe remain.

Yet conservationists remain hopeful.

“We have the ability to save these species,” Farmer said. “If we don’t save these birds in this decade, then they probably won’t be here for the future.”

The current efforts are already showing signs of promise. In one recent study from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, researchers modeled the potential impact of the IIT strategy. The results? There’s still a narrow—but closing—window to save the honeycreepers.

“If you wait even a couple years, the window narrows really quickly,” said Christopher Kyriazis, postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study.

If the mosquito population can be brought under control, conservationists hope that remaining honeycreepers will have the chance to recover and potentially develop some natural resistance to avian malaria. This is already happening in the ‘amakihi, a honeycreeper species on Hawaii Island showing early signs of genetic adaptation.

Still, Kyriazis warns that natural resistance is not enough:

“Even if a (protective) mutation did arise at this point, for it to be able to spread through the population fast enough to save it is very unlikely.”

Farmer expects measurable results within the next year. Meanwhile, captive breeding programs for species like the ‘akikiki are ongoing in hopes that if the threat is controlled, these birds might one day be reintroduced into the wild.

“Being at the forefront of this effort and seeing birds go extinct is soul shattering,” Farmer said. “But it also drives me. The ability to make a difference in the world, make a difference in the future, motivates us all.”

For Hawaii, this project is more than conservation—it’s cultural preservation. Honeycreepers aren’t just pollinators or ecosystem stewards. They are symbols of identity, woven into chants, legends, and the natural rhythm of the islands.