Guam Sihek to be released into the wild in coming days

The Guam Sihek’s are almost ready to take flight in the wild, marking a major step since they were last seen in the wild in 1988.

We spoke with the team of conservationists at the Nature Conservancy’s Preserve and Research Station on Palmyra Atoll for a progress report. 

Kayla Baker is a Senior Bird Conservation Specialist with the Nature Conservancy and Zoological Society of London who will be based in Palmyra for five years.

“All nine of the Sihek had their federal bands and their color bands attached to their legs and each one has a unique combination of bands. So that will be able to tell with binoculars exactly who an individual is without ever having to recapture them for those purposes, each bird also is equipped with a small radio tracker, a little tag that sits between their wings on the top of their back, like a little backpack,” said Baker. 

The team conducted health checks on each of the birds while also testing the tracking equipment ahead of their hopeful release. 

Bird Conservation Specialist Jonathan Shepherd explained, “We track them with two pieces of equipment, a receiver and then an antenna…and it works basically the same way as a radio station. And so these transmitters have a unique frequency associated with each one and so just like tuning in on your car to a radio station, we can tune in with the receiver to each bird specific frequency, and then be able to track it through the forest. the receiver emits a beep when it's hearing the specific bird's frequency.”

  Courtesy/ Sihek Recovery Project

The devices last about 11 weeks. The team will eventually re-capture the birds to take off the transmitters and conduct periodic hands-on health exams. 

Aviculturist Erica Royer is optimistic.

“Ahead of this translocation, we did conduct a rather extensive study in the captive population to look at how much it would change their behavior if it changed their eating habits and looking at stress levels by taking fecal samples. So based on the results of that study, we feel confident that the tags should not present any undue stress,” said Royer. 

“So all nine of the Sihek appear to be ready for release. But we will continue to monitor them, and they should be ready to go in the coming days. It won't be that they're all released at the same time. We're going to listen to the birds and they'll let us know when they're ready, and their release will likely be staggered. so a few birds at a time, perhaps,” added Baker.