A new major threat to Guam’s endangered birds has been stopped in its tracks. The Guam Department of Agriculture has successfully eradicated a dangerous infestation of little fire ants at a critical bird breeding facility - home to the island’s beloved native birds, the ko'ko' and sihek. 

The invasive little fire ants may be small, but their bite packs a painful punch. These tiny insects recently posed a huge threat to two critically-endangered birds native to Guam.

DOA wildlife technician Peter Salas told KUAM News, "So when the chick is born and they poke through the top of the egg, that gives them more chance for the fire ants to go in and destroy the embryo before they are even able to basically live. So they will eat the bird’s eyes, as well."

Large infestations of little fire ants were discovered at the ko’ko’ and sihek breeding facilities in Mangilao shortly after Typhoon Mawar, according to state entomologist Christopher Rosario. 

"That prompted us to really get into action eradicating little fire ants, but starting off with an eight-month treatment plan," said Rosario. "Obviously, we’re past that eight months. We’re about two years in."

With a targeted bait treatment and careful monitoring, the team nipped the infestation in the bud. Rosario added, "We used two types of methods. It’s something that the Guam Department of Agriculture does plan on teaching the community to do on their property.

"So insecticide baited with peanut butter and a granular that has protein bait in it."

Since then, the ko'ko' and sihek caretakers were able to confidently begin breeding the birds, which has been put on halt since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Now, there are ten breeding pairs of the ko'ko' and 25 total hatchlings since last November. Plus, five sihek and a hope for more are on the way. 

"It’s really big for me, me being native," Salas said. "I mean, my dad used to tell me stories, when it rains they come out - the banederu. So it’s really now to see that our numbers are going up. Hopefully one day, I can tell my kids ‘Hey, see that wild bird there? I helped reproduce it. I helped bring it back to Guam."

It's a hope that once brown tree snakes are under control, future generations will see these birds spread their wings in the wild in Guam. 

In the meantime, the successes continue over in Palmyra Atoll where the sihek successfully laid eggs in the wild for the first time in nearly 40 years.  The nature conservancy shared the good news on Monday. 

As you may recall, the Sihek Recovery Program released nine hand-reared sihek at their Palmyra Atoll Preserve last September.  The nature conservancy says “The team behind the project are now celebrating as the eggs mark how the birds have flourished since their arrival to the Pacific atoll, located about 1,000 miles south of Honolulu, Hawaii.”