The what fisher?

The Guam kingfisher or sihek is a beautiful small forest-dwelling bird native to the Island of Guam, a United States colony situated in the western-pacific. With its vivid orange body, iridescent greenish-blue wings and distinctive striped face, the sihek is of extreme cultural significance to the indigenous Chamorro people of Guam.

The kingfishers once helped balance Guam's ecosystems by predating on lizards, insects and arachnids and preventing overpopulation. They worked as a community unit with the other bird, animal and plant populations to maintain the island's rich biodiversity and growth of natural resources.

What happened to Guam's wildlife?

In the 1940s, the brown tree snake hitched a ride to Guam on cargo ships from Papua New Guinea and became invasive. The introduction of this predator disrupted the ecosystem entirely, eliminating most native bird, bat and lizard species from the community.

The snakes have caused a steep decline in forest growth due to the lack of seed dispersing birds and fluctuating populations of other wildlife in the food chain.

By 1984, the sihek was confirmed endangered (EN) by IUCN and extinct in the wild (EW) just four years later. During this time, various institutions managed to rescue twenty-nine of the birds for breeding with plans of eventually recolonising Guam.

Where did the rescued birds go?

The sihek recovery programme was born in 1988; the collaboration of 25 organisations including the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) with a primary goal to help the sihek re-establish itself in the wild.

The zoo's and sanctuaries involved made it their mission to breed the birds and keep its population alive until the brown tree snakes are controlled. Since the programme began, the captive population has risen to 141 adults including 45 breeding females from just 29.

Rewilding the sihek

The first of the six chicks hatched at Sedwick County Zoo, Kansas in April. With the help of keepers from London and Whipsnade the birds were hand-reared, taught to forage and monitored closely until they were deemed healthy and mature enough for release.

They were then transported to temporary aviaries at the Nature Conservancy Centre on Cooper Island at Palmyra Atoll, a fully protected and invasive predator free British overseas territory in the Caribbean. The area is ideal for the siheks to establish a stable breeding population in the wild whilst the snake problem is being addressed in their native region.

Before their release the birds were given a health examination, provided some supplementary food and kitted out with radio trackers. These assist the team in monitoring their behaviour and tracking their home-ranges to gauge their level of survival success.

Future of the sihek

The release of these birds will continue until 20 breeding pairs are observed in the wild. Once the invasive snake problem is mitigated in Guam, some of the wild population will be captured and transported home. Here, the team will undergo a release, monitoring and tracking process, much like in Palmyra, until a healthy population has been established.

Rewilding projects like this one are fundamental to the worlds landscapes and ensuring natural environments continue to thrive. Island ecosystems in particular, support more endemic species (only found in one region) than anywhere else in the world.

These birds provide cultural, economic and ecological value to Guam, not to mention their global importance in maintaining oxygen rich woodlands.