Guam Sihek prepare to take historic flight

The sounds of Palmyra Atoll played over a computer speaker at the Sihek Recovery Project biosecurity facility in Wichita, Kansas. Nine Guam Sihek at the Sedgwick County Zoo will hopefully hear those sounds daily when they’re released on Palmyra later this week.

“Once the birds have been introduced to the island, they are used to the sounds and different noises of different wildlife,” said ZSL London Zoo Aviculturist Camille Munday.

KUAM returned to Kansas after a year as an exciting new phase unfolds for the bird, which is extinct in the wild. Before the 14-hour journey to Palmyra from Kansas, KUAM joined Camille Munday and Antonia Fitchett from the ZSL London Zoo who have brought their expertise to care for the birds for weeks. 

Cleaning their cages, giving them medicine, feeding them, and observing their every move before they take flight.

“At the moment they are on an ad libitum diet so we are feeding them what they want so they are very nice and full and ready for the island,” said Fitchett.

Their diet includes crickets, worms, lizards, and mice. They've trained them to know food is ready by blowing a whistle.

A practice they hope to use in Palmyra to call the birds back to monitor them.

The birds, four females and five males, came from zoos across the nation. Cincinnati Zoo, National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, and Sedgwick County Zoo.

It's a part of a 24 Zoo collaborative breeding program in the U.S.

Each of the birds has a Chamorro name, selected by KUAM viewers on social media, and reflects their personality.

“We have some that are really shy. We have some that are really playful, some that are quite hyperactive. But we can tell them apart…because every individual has a unique personality which is really lovely to see,” said Munday.

Kansas has served as a hub for the Sihek’s recovery, connecting a network of zoos and people invested in seeing the Sihek thrive.

Fitchett said, "So we are really hopeful that the Sihek will establish a really nice population on Palmyra Atoll. We are hoping that we will get enough breeding pairs and it will be really exciting if we do manage to get these species to Guam itself."