The Sad Story of a Nene Gosling and its Mother VC: DLNR Like many family stories, this one begins with the mother. Mom is an adult female nēnē, one of Hawai‘i’s State Birds, banded NTC. Last year one of her goslings was abducted from Wailoa River State Recreation Area. Police and conservation officers followed leads and a local family, who witnessed the bird-napping, followed her until she was apprehended. The young bird is back at the park and said to be thriving. Last week, post-mortem testing