A bird that vanished from its native Pacific island nearly four decades ago is quietly multiplying in a facility nestled in the Virginia mountains — and, for the first time in a generation, on a remote atoll far from home.
This spring, four sihek chicks hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, the latest fragile additions to a global population of roughly 125 individuals. For the Guam kingfisher, a rust-and-teal bird no larger than a fist, that number is both a measure of progress and a reminder of how little margin remains.
A bird erased from its own island
The brown tree snake arrived on Guam quietly, most likely hidden in military cargo after World War II. With no natural predators to limit its spread, it multiplied fast and hunted relentlessly. Birds, lizards, and bats all suffered — ten of Guam’s 12 native forest bird species were eliminated from the wild entirely.
The sihek was among them. For the Indigenous CHamoru people, this was not simply an ecological loss. The bird carries deep cultural significance, and its disappearance severed a living thread from the island’s identity. It had also kept insect and lizard populations in check, a role that vanished right along with it.
Captive breeding programs became the only remaining option. Institutions across the United States began housing and carefully managing sihek populations, alongside other Guam natives like the ko’ko’, or Guam rail. Without that intervention, the species would almost certainly be gone.
Decades of careful work at the Conservation Biology Institute
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, has been central to that effort for decades. Thirty-three sihek chicks have hatched there over the years. This spring’s four hatchlings tie the facility’s seasonal record, previously set in 2020 and again in 1985.
The parents — 2-year-old Poki and 5-year-old Antonio — had never bred before, which required a creative workaround. While keepers incubated the real eggs under precise temperature and humidity conditions, the adult birds were given “dummy eggs” — sihek eggshells filled with plaster — to practice on. The goal was to let Poki and Antonio develop incubation instincts without risking the actual clutch.
Once hatched, the chicks demanded intensive care. Staff hand-feed them seven times per day, gradually pulling back that frequency as the birds mature. The April hatchlings are still adjusting — aviculturist Erica Royer noted they are “a bit picky still” about eating independently.
Why every new chick carries extra weight
With only about 125 sihek alive anywhere on Earth, the margin for loss is almost nonexistent. Every individual matters not just as a number, but as a genetic contributor to the species’ long-term survival.
Poki and Antonio are first-time parents whose genes are currently underrepresented in the global population, making their offspring especially valuable. Wildlife biologist Megan Laut explains the logic plainly: young birds are essential to replace aging individuals no longer part of the breeding pool. They are, as she put it, “the next generation.”
Even the pairing itself was hard-won. Sihek are territorial by nature, and compatible matches are difficult to establish. Poki and Antonio failed to get along at all last year. This season, something shifted.
A new home on Palmyra Atoll
Returning sihek to Guam remains impossible for now. Control efforts have reduced the brown tree snake’s numbers on the island, but the predator has not been eradicated, so conservationists needed a different plan.
They found one in Palmyra Atoll — a chain of 26 islets within a protected national wildlife refuge, cleared of invasive species and effectively predator-free. Nine birds, five males and four females, were released there in September 2024. Based on comparable translocation projects, experts anticipated roughly 50 percent survival. As of the time of reporting, all nine are still alive.
Then, in late March 2025, biologists found sihek eggs in a nest on the atoll. It was the first wild nesting attempt in nearly 40 years. None of the eggs hatched, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attributed the outcome to inexperience rather than failure — noting it may take a few more attempts before the birds successfully hatch and rear chicks in the wild.
What the sihek’s story says about conservation
The sihek’s slow recovery did not happen through any single effort. It required sustained coordination across the Guam Department of Agriculture, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Zoological Society of London, among others. That kind of institutional cooperation, maintained across decades, is what kept the species from disappearing entirely.
Professor John Ewen of the Zoological Society of London described the sihek as carrying a dual meaning: “a legacy of what can go wrong if we don’t care for nature but also what can be achieved when we decide to act.” The species is simultaneously a cautionary story and a proof of concept.
A second group of sihek is already being planned for translocation to Palmyra Atoll. The birds already there are gaining experience, and Ewen expressed cautious hope for “our first wild chick in almost 40 years” as that experience accumulates. The milestone has not arrived yet — but for the first time in a long time, it is genuinely within reach.