Are tropical birds returning back to Guam?

I've posted a lot about our family's experience living on the Pacific island of Guam in the past (see in particular, my posts "Abandon all hope ye who enter here...", "Summer break is over!", and "It's an island thing!").  It was a memorable experience and one that I think we all cherish.  I've also posted about the Brown Tree Snake, an invasive species that was accidentally introduced to the island during World War II and which unfortunately wiped out most of the native species of exotic birds on the island (see "Is this another April Fool's joke?" and "The law of unintended consequences").

I was excited to see the newest development on this particular story.  No, there has not been any more attempts at parachuting dead, acetaminophen-stuffed mice into the jungle canopy in an attempt to control the Brown Tree Snake population!  Apparently, there has been an active captive-breeding project involving a few of the Guam indigenous bird species at several zoos around the U.S. in the past couple of years.  The latest involved the Cincinnati Zoo (and about four others) and the Guam Kingfisher, also known as the Sihek.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported earlier in July that the Cincinnati Zoo currently has 17 Kingfishers, including two on exhibit and six in the nursery.  The Guam Kingfisher is being reintroduced into the wild on the Pacific atoll of Palmyra, which is located just south of Hawaii.  The program reintroduced nine Kingfishers to Palmyra in 2024, and so far everything is going great!  The birds have started breeding, and the first egg was spotted in April 2025 - the first Guam Kingfisher egg laid in the wild in over 40 years!  It's an exciting development for sure!  The project will re-introduce nine new birds to the island each year for the next several years.  The plan is to eventually return these beautiful birds back to their home island of Guam, if protected areas can be established and the threat of the Brown Tree Snake is eliminated or better controlled.  Let's keep our collective fingers crossed!

If you want to keep up-to-date on the Guam Kingfisher project, check out the website for the Sihek Conservation Program here.  And if you want to see a cute video of a newly hatched Guam Kingfisher chick, check out the Facebook page for the Cincinnati Zoo!

As an aside, I realize that this post doesn't have much, if anything, to do with leadership.  However, anytime I can provide an update from older posts, I try to do so, especially when it involves two places where I've spent a lot of time during my life, Guam and Cincinnati, Ohio!