Guam kingfishers: near-extinct hatchlings to be returned to the wild - with help from a British zookeeper

A kingfisher species which has been "extinct in the wild" for nearly 40 years could soon be wild once more - thanks to the help of a British zookeeper.

There are thought to be less than 150 Guam kingfishers - or sihek as they are known to the Chamoru people - left in the world today. The striking orange and blue birds, endemic to the US Pacific island territory of Guam, were classified as extinct in the wild in 1988 after the accidental introduction of brown tree snakes 40 years earlier.

Although efforts are underway to control the exploding snake population, all of the world's remaining sihek are in human care.

But now, thanks to the help of a British bird keeper, four of the "extremely precious" hatchlings reared in the US will soon be released back into the wild - although not quite in their native homeland.

Claire McSweeney of Dunstable's Whipsnade Zoo travelled to Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas as part of the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) sihek recovery project, where she has been helping specialists hand rear a clutch of Guam kingfishers.

The eggs started hatching a day after Ms McSweeney landed in America in June, and she has since been caring for the chicks “around the clock”.

“I flew to America in early June and the next day the eggs started to hatch – since then it’s been go, go, go,” she said. “We’ve been caring for the rare chicks around the clock, feeding, monitoring and weighing them to ensure they’re in the best of health.”

Ms McSweeney said that apart from the four fluffy, brown chicks in her care, there were only 137 sihek in the whole world. “These little hatchlings are extremely precious as ZSL and its partners work towards growing the population and introducing sihek back into the wild.”

The sihek recovery project hopes to release nine chicks onto Palmyra Atoll, an island just south of Hawaii, next year. It will repeat this annually until 20 siheks establish as breeding pairs, in what they hope will result in the first wild-born sihek chicks since the 1980s.

Ms McSweeney has closely monitored the chicks to ensure they have “the strongest possible start” to their new lives in the wild. “The chicks, which currently weigh around 50g, are enjoying a nutritious diet of mice, but in the forests of Palmyra Atoll they will have to learn to hunt and forage for everything from insects to geckos.

“We’re training them to associate feeding time with a whistle, so that if they struggle settling in, our team on the ground can blow a whistle and the birds will know where to go to find food," she continued. “We want to make sure they have the strongest possible start to their new lives and can flourish in their wild homes – preparations start now.”

John Ewen, senior research fellow at ZSL’s Institute of Zoology and sihek recovery team chair, said conservation efforts are vital to “grow the bird’s population” and see the threatened species “flourish" once again.

“In the 1980s there were only a handful of sihek left in the world, now, thanks to expertise from zookeepers like Claire, there are 137 across the United States," he said.

“Our goal is to continue to grow the bird’s population and introduce the sihek into a predator-free zone next year on the fully protected Palmyra Atoll – a temporary home where they can flourish in the wild before their hopeful return to a snake-free Guam.”