How 4 chicks at the National Aviary are helping bring nearly extinct birds back to the wild
A fourth Guam kingfisher has hatched at the National Aviary this year, bringing the species one step closer to someday returning to its native habitat, where it's been extinct for 40 years.
The National Aviary on Tuesday announced the birth of its fourth Guam kingfisher of 2026. A DNA test determined the chick, which hatched on June 24, is a male, bringing this year's total to three males and one female.
The chick is a younger sibling of the third Guam kingfisher that hatched on May 29, and he's the half-sibling of Mames and Långet, two Guam kingfishers that hatched at the National Aviary and are now among seven others living in the wild on Palmyra Atoll.
Known locally as a sihek, the Guam kingfisher was wiped out in its native habitat by the invasive brown tree snake. Biologists rescued 29 of the remaining wild population in the late 1980s, saving the bird from complete extinction.
Now more than two dozen facilities, including the National Aviary, are trying to bring the birds back to Guam. As part of the Sihek Recovery Program, a handful of birds, including Mames and Långet, now live on the brown snake-free Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
The hope is that the birds on Palmyra Atoll will hatch chicks outside of human care for the first time in 40 years, and someday, once the brown tree snakes are managed, Guam kingfishers can finally return to their native habitat.
The aviary says a key component of the Sihek Recovery Program is maintaining a genetically diverse population in human care, so while the newest chick will likely remain in human care, once he matures and picks a mate, his offspring could potentially be released into the wild.
