PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Three Guam kingfishers that hatched at the National Aviary have been released on an island in the Pacific, marking the first time their species has been in the wild in nearly 40 years.
The National Aviary has been part of a project to establish a population of Guam kingfishers, which have been extinct in the wild since the ’80s. Known locally as sihek, the birds haven’t been spotted in the wild since 1988 after invasive brown tree snakes arrived on Guam and decimated the population.
Through the global Sihek Recovery Program, six Guam kingfishers were recently released on the predator-free island of Palmyra Atoll. Three of those birds — Långet, which means “heaven” or “sky” in CHamoru, Mames, meaning “sweet,” and Sindålu, meaning warrior — were hatched and raised at the National Aviary. Those birds traveled from Pittsburgh to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas before arriving on Palmyra Atoll last month with six other birds.
Before being released, the birds spent time in aviaries, acclimatizing to their new homes. While three birds haven’t been released yet, they will be as they individually reach the milestones needed to survive in the wild.
Conservationists hope to return Guam kingfishers home
Experts say introducing Guam kingfishers to Palmyra will allow the program to monitor the birds and see how they respond. The plan is to continue to supplement the population, establishing 20 sihek breeding pairs.
Before being released, the birds were fitted with telemetry devices that the National Aviary helped test. Kurt Hundgen, the aviary’s senior director of animal care and conservation programming, said the Guam kingfishers in their breeding center trialed the radio transmitter trackers.
“These tiny trackers will help field researchers to monitor the birds’ movements and survival after they are released. We are so excited to see what insights the telemetry units will be able to provide to help guide conservation and land management practices in the future,” Hundgen said.
The ultimate hope is that the birds will be able to return to their home in Guam someday once the threat from brown tree snakes is addressed.