Caretakers released six Guam kingfishers, a bird species known locally as sihek, into the wild on Palmyra Atoll on Sept. 23, marking their first free flight in nearly four decades and a triumphant return from being classified as “extinct in the wild.” “Our Guam Sihek, a symbol of our island’s beauty, with their cerulean blue and cinnamon coloration mirroring our ocean blue water and red-orange sunsets, have been achieving the seemingly impossible,” Yolonda Topasna, from the Guam Department of Agriculture’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources, said in a statement. “Today, the Sihek were set free from their aviaries! Their return to the wild is a testament to our people’s spirit and our commitment to preserving our heritage.” Sihek flying out of temporary soft-release home into forests of Palmyra Atoll. Image courtesy of Smithsonian/NZCBI. The sihek (Todiramphus cinnamominus) was once endemic to the forests of Guam, an island in the western Pacific that is today a U.S. territory. The accidental introduction of the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) in the 1940s devastated the island’s native wildlife, including many local birds whose eggs were eaten by the snakes. A rescue operation in the 1980s brought 29 birds into captivity. These individuals formed the foundation of a breeding program that has kept the species alive for the past 35 years, even as the sihek was declared extinct in the wild by 1988. Finally, on Sept. 23, 2024, six young sihek were released from their temporary aviaries into the lush forests of Palmyra…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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