HILO, Hawai'i — Perhaps the pluck of the wild chicken can take the chirp out of the coqui frog.

Officials and researchers have begun investigating whether wild chickens may be a natural predator that could help reduce populations of the coqui, whose loud chirping has become a nuisance.

University of Hawai'i entomologist Arnold Hara said he has heard enough reports of wild chickens feeding on coqui frogs that he has decided to do an experiment to see if chickens prey on them. He has been studying the frogs under a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to see if they can be controlled in a way similar to that for insects.

Big Island Councilwoman Virginia Isbell said her neighborhood in Kealakekua doesn't have a coqui frog problem. "And that's because the wild chickens take care of them," Isbell said.

The state government has been working to find ways to control coqui frogs because they threaten Hawai'i's ecosystem and annoy neighbors with their loud cries. Their infestations are greatest on the Big Island and Maui.

A recent study that examined the digestive tracts of rats, mongoose and cane toads caught in Lave Tree State Monument in Pahoa found that only mongoose feed on coqui.

University of Hawaii-Hilo herpetologist William Mautz said he wouldn't be surprised to learn that mongoose and chickens can develop a taste for the frogs. "Coqui come down to the ground during the day, when mongoose and chickens hunt," he said.

Other efforts to kill the frogs have included spraying citric acid and hydrated lime.