Unfortunately, due to the Guam
Kingfishers history, we don’t know exactly what
niche it filled in its natural habitat. No one studied the
kingfishers until their numbers started declining, due to the brown tree snakes, arachnids have run rampant (Arachnopocalypse: with birds away, the spiders play in Guam, 2012).
There has been no history of spiders being exceptionally common on the island of Guam. However, researchers have recently found data that shows that during the dry season there is an average of 18 spiders every 10 meters, and in the wet season there is an average of 26 spiders every 10 meters (Arachnopocalypse: with birds away, the spiders play in Guam, 2012). That means there is a spider/spiderweb just
Why Save it?
Socio Economic Reasons
about every step you take. The Guam Kingfisher used to feed on various insects, and annelids, now that the kingfishers aren’t in the wild anymore, the prey it would have eaten is taking over (Beacham, Walton, Castronova,
Frank, Sessine, Suzanne, 2001). This is a result of the Guam Kingfisher going extinct in the wild, this impacts the entire island of Guam, however there is no global environmental impact of the kingfishers going extinct.
In addition to the controlling of other species, the Guam Kingfisher, along with most other birds, act as an indicator species for Guam (Guam Birds Are Very Useful Indicators For Other Kinds of Biodiversity, 2013). Meaning looking at the population and success of the species, you could derive how successful other species are, and a multitude of environmental factors such as air quality and the effect of climate change on the region. This is a huge resource to us as humans. We can see how our actions are impacting the wildlife, and work to improve it.
Photo Credit:
Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society
Guam Kingfisher
Click image to enlarge
In one of the first studies to examine how the loss of tropical forest birds, such as the Guam Kingfisher, is affecting Guam's island ecosystem, biologists from Rice University, the University of Washington, and the University of Guam found that the Pacific island's jungles have as many as 40 times more spiders than are found on nearby islands like Saipan (Rice University, 2012).The results are some of the first to examine the indirect impact of the Brown treesnake on Guam's ecosystem. Guam is a U.S. territory, and to prevent the non-native Brown-tree snakes from spreading to other islands, the U.S. spends more than $1 million a year searching airplanes and cargo to prevent the snakes from escaping Guam (Rice University, 2012)
Overpopulation of Spiders
"You can’t walk through the jungles without a stick to knock down the spiderwebs.”
The average resident or tourist on Guam will never see one, and even those who actively hunt them are hard-pressed to find one, which is one reason the snakes have been impossible to eradicate from the island. If ecologists wanted to study how insects reacted to the absence of birds, they would build an "exclosure," a covering designed to keep birds out of their study area. Most exclosures cover a few branches of one tree, and, in rare cases, an entire tree. Building structures large enough to exclude
birds from an entire forest simply isn't affordable, so the Brown treesnake has effectively set the stage for experiments that ecologists couldn't otherwise do. Josh Tewksbury of the University of Washington and Ross Miller of the University of Guam found that spiders were between two and 40 times more plentiful on Guam than on neighboring islands due to the loss of forest birds (Rice University, 2012). The ecosystems diversity is at an all time low due to the loss of birds. Unless the native birds are returned to Guam and contribute their niche, the people of Guam will continue to suffer from parasites.
One of the world's most endangered species, the Guam Kingfisher lives only in zoo captivity and struggles to survive. The birds currently in captivity are ambassadors for the survival for their species. The kingfisher population was federally listed as an endangered species in 1984, and in 1988 declared extinct in the wild (U.S. Fish and Wildlife, 2008). The birds are unique to Guam, and they're not the only bird species being disturbed on the island. Almost all the forest birds on Guam are in the twilight of their existence. This creates an eerily silent forest, something that never existed before now.
Photo Credit:
Isaac Chellman/National Geographic
Click image to enlarge
Rarest Bird in the World
Most animal species' seen in zoos are kept for public display or captive breeding programs. The Guam Kingfishers introduction to zoo's was purely for rescue; this alone makes the bird extremely unique. Its species is one of the only two species remaining from the original 11 bird species native to Guam at the beginning of the 20th century (The National Aviary, 2015). The 'rescue', rehabilitation, and return of the Guam Kingfisher is an activity which attracts money and attention of the general public.
This species of bird is found nowhere else on the planet other then select U.S. zoos. Efforts should be met to conserve this unique bird species. Zoos benefit economically through the display casings
and showcases of the species. American zoos and aquariums contribute $16 billion to the economy, $4.7 billion in personal earnings to workers, and 142,000 jobs. With the continuation of the Guam Kingfisher conservation in zoos, this contribution will only increase the economic benefits that zoos hold (The National Aviary, 2015).
Bird Watching & Ecotourism
If the Guam Kingfishers were returned to their natural habitat in Guam, there would be an economic benefit from birdwatching, the nation’s fastest growing outdoor recreation. It’s estimated that birdwatching contributes an estimated $400 million each year into each state’s economy. In a recent study (Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that wildlife watching—not just bird watching— generated $85 billion in economic benefits to the nation in 2001. Birdwatching the Guam Kingfisher would provide endless opportunities for jobs, festivals, merchandise, tours, and many other economic benefits to Guam. Efforts are underway to restore and upgrade the island’s deteriorated cultural and historic assets in order to validate and sustain Guam’s differentiated brand identity. Guam continues to be a
"Birdwatching the Guam Kingfisher would provide economic benefits."
competitive destination, and the locals hope to ensure the long-term viability of Guam’s tourism industry.
Total Estimated Cost for the Guam Kingfisher
The total estimated cost of recovery for the Guam Kingfisher rests at a whopping $145,830,000 over a 50-year period (U.S. Fish and Wildlife, 2008). However this is only an estimate and may change substantially as efforts to recover the species continues.
Besides the reintroduction of the bird populations, the Guam Kingfisher’s native coconut grove habitat that makes up 0.76% of Guam needs major restoration (DAWR, 2013). Currently the coconut grove has been uprooted tremendously by feral pigs, taken over by non-native shrubs, and lacks native trees within the area. Invasive plant species is the most prevalent issue within the coconut grove’s habitat. The invasive plant species that was also introduced shortly after WWII, the
Tangantangan, which has out-competed many native plants and is slowly changing the soil composition, making reforestation efforts in the coconut grove close to impossible. The total estimated cost for coconut grove restoration is around $510,000 (DAWR, 2013).
Other costly restoration efforts come from the possibility of a typhoon, such as the super typhoon, Pongsona which occurred in 2002 costing the island $800 million in damages, and destroyed the Guam Kingfisher’s habitat. There are countless possibilities for the natural disasters that may occur once the kingfisher is safely returned to the island and can return to repopulating it species (DAWR, 2013).
$145,830,000
Ecological Role
The Guam Kingfisher (Todiramphus cinnamominus), dubbed Sihek by Guam natives, had a very unique ecological role in the forests of Guam. Unfortunately, do to the selfish impatience of the human race, the Brown treesnake (Boiga Irregularis) was introduced and has evolved into one of the most invasive species in the world. In the 1970’s-80’s Guam kingfishers experienced a population bottleneck due to this new species, and the last of these endemic birds had to be stripped from their natural habitat. The captive
population has been hand-reared ever since (Final Revised Recovery Plan
for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, 2008). Although there
wasn’t much information on the species before its eradication from the wild, it’s
absence for the past 30 years has definitely given insight on its past ecological niche. Other
Micronesian kingfisher subspecies on neighboring islands have provided the majority of
information that was missing during the beginning of the conservation and restoration project
Specialist Species
The Guam Kingfisher is a specialist species, strictly native to Guam, it has a long list of specific requirements necessary to its survival. All that was known before removing the species from the wild, was that Guam Micronesian Kingfishers had occupied mature forests, agro-forest, mangrove, and open habitats and that they nested in cavities excavated from soft wooded trees and arboreal termitaria (Kesler, 2002). With the twenty nine birds that had been taken, the species had to rely completely on the zookeepers for survival (Final Revised Recovery Plan for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, 2008). Imagine coming home from IKEA with a new chest of drawers and opening it up to find out the instructions to build it were missing. You were the first one to buy it, no use looking it up, no one else has built it yet. You can’t return it, you already opened it and you don’t know how to build it. What are you going to do?
Research
In 2002, Dylan Kesler took on the research to use radio telemetry and visual observations of a wild subspecies of the Micronesian Kingfisher, the Pohnpei Kingfisher (Todiramphus reichenbachii) in order to determine the influence of site characteristics on selection and availability on a potentially limited resource. The programs had figured out the basics by this point, but were still struggling heavily on pairing the right birds for mating. Kesler’s investigations were primarily to serve as a starting line for the research on the conservation of the Guam Kingfisher, as well as provide a basic life history of the entire Micronesian Kingfisher species (Kesler, 2002). Kesler ended up spending ten years researching different aspects of conservation of the species. Without his multiple projects on the Micronesian Kingfishers, and their ecological behavior, the Guam Kingfisher might not have made it this far in captivity. (Kesler, 2012)
In 2004, Kesler researched the behavioural ecology of the Pohnpei Kingfisher, to establish some kind of information to aid the Guam breeding programs. The cooperative social behaviors were noted as the most interesting and relevant to the recovery of the birds. Many researchers have hypothesized about why non-parents, often referred to as helpers, ignore reproductive opportunities for what appears to be the benefit of others. Two
Dylan Kesler
of the more accepted hypotheses include the Ecological Constraints Hypothesis and the Benefits-of-Philopatry Hypothesis. Both of which offer ideas that the evolution of cooperative behaviors is an adaptation to limited resources and the intraspecific competition for them. They hypothesize that the best option for a young or inexperienced bird is to remain in their natural territory and assist in their parents' reproductive attempts until resources turn available, or they can inherit breeding resources. (Kesler, 2004)
Click image to enlarge
Mangrove
Photo Credit
Andrew Tappert/Wikipedia
Breeding Program
The captive breeding program got off to a rough start due to the lack of information. As it turned out, growing the population for recovery is a long and painstaking process. The Sihek are slow reproducers and only lay a clutch of 1-2 eggs every 2-3 years. And, If they do lay more than one egg, usually only one offspring will survive. Not even Kesler has figured out why. The goal of the program was to maintain a healthy, and self-sustaining captive population that is both genetically diverse, and demographically stable. The middle stages of the breeding program proved to be extremely rocky for the Guam Kingfisher, but after many scary moments, lots of information was gained (Bahner, 2015).
to learn more!
In 1991, a freeze in the South East caused an important piece of the birds carnivorous diet to become unavailable. Lizards that the captive Sihek were accustomed to, the Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) had suddenly been replaced with what zoo experts thought to be the best substitutions. This make-shift diet had little to no effect on the adult Sihek, however it seem to lack an important nutritional value in the diet of the younger birds. The substitute diet was enough to sustain life, but lacked important nutrients like carotenoids, and anti-oxidants, both of which are thought to provide health benefits. This shortage of lizards, however slight, still affected the birds resistance to disease, and increased the young birds mortality rate, which was passed on to offspring. Later, in 1994 a study conducted for the Husbandry Manual, the Micronesian kingfisher Nutrition Survey of 1994, showed the kingfishers intake results with different types of food. The Green Anole was the only food that no captive kingfisher had ever rejected (Bahner, 2015).