A long shot rescue plan for the Critically-Endangered Guam kingfisher is set to take place on the wilds of an island nowhere near Guam.

Having been extirpated from Guam via invasive brown tree snakes, captive breeding centers have kept the species treading water until now.

A scientific mission born of a partnership between the Nature Conservancy and the Fish and Wildlife Service, to return them to the wilds—not of Guam, but on the Palmyra Atoll chain next year, is likely their only hope of long term survival.

Sometimes in the Anthropocene, biodiversity can be saved—just not in its original form. The world is better off with the strikingly beautiful Guam kingfisher, all rusty brown with blue prim, but until the past wrong of introducing the brown tree snake can be righted, the "Sihek" as it's called in the language of Guam, needs a place to grow up again.

Today, only two of Guam's 12 native forest birds remain in the wild. The successful release of the sihek on the atoll could inspire similar recovery initiatives on Guam, but most importantly stop the inbreeding that's currently harming the birds' lifespans in captivity.

"Like all extinct-in-the-wild species, the fate of sihek rests directly in our hands," said Dr. John Ewen of the Zoological Society of London and chair of the Sihek Recovery Team. "We have the opportunity to return this species to the wild in a highly responsible way, learning about their needs in a wild environment with low risk."

The first challenge for the Team, founded in 2020, was finding a place to put the bird. The Cocos Islands next door to Guam was thought an ideal place, until the discovery of a flourishing brown tree snake population scuppered that idea.

As WS has reported before, eradication of invasive species on islands has been the great success story of modern conservation. Among these beneficiaries are the islands of the Palmyra Atoll, which lie around 1,000 miles south of Hawai'i.

Palmyra had a rat problem, but has returned to its pristine state of insects, geckos, and other animals.

"This proposed experimental conservation translocation of our sihek to Palmyra Atoll not only benefits the sihek but gives us the opportunity to highlight Guam's biological uniqueness," said Anthony Tornito, wildlife biologist for Guam Department of Agriculture Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources.

The plan is by no means straightforward. While Palmyra has a scientific research station, there is nothing in the way of an aviary. All materials must be flown out in advance, reports Audubon. 

20 sihek eggs will then be transferred to Hawai'i, and in order to reduce the risk of foreign germs or parasites spreading on the recently-recovered atoll, the resulting chicks will be hand-reared until 9 of them can be transferred in cages to Palmyra. After getting their "ticket to ride" by the vet traveling with them, they will finally be able to return to wilderness.

"This release is coinciding with Guam's Chamoru cultural renaissance and this initial release on Palmyra Atoll is a catalyst for the species' eventual, and long-awaited, return to the wild on Guam," said Tornito.

It's going to be long-awaited for the scientists of the Shiek Recovery Team as well, who don't know which of the available prey species the sihek will favor, who won't know what time of year, considering the 365-day perfect temperatures, the birds will breed, or how far they will disperse.

"It's going to be really interesting to see what they will choose to eat once they are in the wild," Stefan Kropidlowski, the refuge manager of Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, told Audubon Society.

"We're such a small, tiny little island that most people don't even know about—the fact that we can help another small, little, tiny Pacific island achieve their conservation goals is fantastic."

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