Flight of the Sihek: Guam's effort to save the bird (Part 1)

The Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, or Sihek, is considered extinct in the wild. A massive effort involving various government and non-profit agencies wants to change that.

Anthony Tornito, a biologist at the Guam Dept. of Agriculture, said, "The Sihek Project is decades-long work of captive rearing the Sihek and we are at a point now where on top of the captive rearing part there is now a potential release component."

That turning point could happen next year with a release of the Sihek on Palmyra Atoll, managed by The Nature Conservancy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, with birds raised at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas. KUAM will be reporting from Kansas this week. But the story starts in Guam. Anthony Tornito is a local biologist with the Department of Agriculture. 

He said, "We are not just breeding birds so they can just stay in zoos. We are breeding birds that way they can go out into the wild where they belong."

He added, "Guam and the Marianas have two unique sihek species. The CNMI has their own beautiful sihek. It is a white and cerulean wing-colored bird and here on Guam we have our cinnamon-colored sihek with cerulean wings"

The sihek on Guam has been extinct in the wild since the late 1980s amid threats like the brown tree snakes and habitat loss. According to the Smithsonian, “There are less than 145 birds in human care at 24…facilities and one breeding facility on Guam.”

"What we are doing now is trying to gear up at least 6 birds to release on Palmyra," he said. "And of course, being in captivity for so long, sometimes these birds over time might lose their ability to rear their young…the zoo is helping with the breeding process."

The goal is to raise a wild population that can sustain itself. 

"When we lose these natural resources, we lose the cultural heritage and identity that is associated with these animals, and to my understanding, there is a legend here on Guam about the Sihek and that the female sihek was a loud woman in the village and a Taotaomona changed her into a Sihek and that legend kind of stuck over time," he recalled. 

It’s a legend that many are striving to help breathe new life into so that the Sihek can be heard again. 

Editor's note: KUAM’s reporting in Wichita, Kansas is made possible through a partnership with the international conservation charity ZSL.