Pittsburgh bird enthusiasts may not be familiar with the Guam Rail. That’s because these birds are not native to Pittsburgh, or even North America, and used to be extinct in the wild altogether. The flightless birds were driven to the brink of extinction on the island of Guam by the invasive Brown Tree Snake (introduced by U.S. military cargo ships), and are now among the species housed at the National Aviary, whose existence is being sustained, in part, by a new grant award.
The National Aviary will receive $25,000 from the Foxwynd Foundation to support existing programs that prioritize preservation and protection of endangered and at-risk bird species.
The aviary plans to use Foxwynd funds to continue ongoing survival efforts for endangered species through increased breeding and reintroduction, as well as to promote education efforts for the public. The primary goal is to increase egg survival rates for endangered birds — something the aviary has successfully accomplished in recent years.
“The National Aviary’s efforts as it pertains to safeguarding the Guam Rail, Guam Kingfisher, Eastern Loggerhead Shrike, and the Red Siskin are just a few examples of the groundbreaking work the Foxwynd Foundation’s generous donation will be impacting,” said National Aviary Senior Director of Philanthropy Laure Nicholl in a new release. “With their help, we hope to re-establish wild bird populations more than ever before.”
The National Aviary is part of a train of facilities that work together, leveraging large human audiences, to preserve animal species under threat in the wild. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan (SSP) and the Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE) program are two of the national programs housed at the aviary that safeguard endangered birds.
Brianna Crane, the senior aviculturist at the National Aviary, explained that SSPs are programs that “work to keep their species population within certain genetic care ranges to make sure they maintain a diverse genetic pool.” She added that SAFE “combine both care and management of birds that are in human care, as well as working on conservation work for their native habitats.”
The facility’s newest project involves a kingfisher from the United States Territory of Guam, colloquially known as “sihek.” With the Foxwynd Foundation grant, the Aviary hopes the Kingfishers will become only the third bird species ever to be downgraded from endangered status. In 2024, nine Guam Kingfishers were reintroduced to Palmyra Atoll — the first of their kind to return to the wild in 40 years.
Crane said that downgrading a species from endangered status is rare for a multitude of reasons.
“ It’s so rare because once birds become extinct in the wild, that usually means there’s very few of them left… to be able to release them into the wild again is also very challenging because these birds went extinct for a reason, and sometimes it’s very difficult to fix those reasons.”
