#myiagra freycineti

[goda12]

[typhlonectes]

National Zoo Holds Hope for the Critically Endangered Micronesian Kingfisher

by John Gibbons - Smithsonian’s National Zoo

The introduction of an exotic species can be devastating to an ecosystem  and its biodi-versity — and  nowhere is that more apparent than on the Pacific island of Guam. 

The accidental introduction of the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) shortly after World War II heralded the extermination of many bird species on Guam,  including the Marianas Fruit  Dove (Ptilinopus roseicapilla), Guam Broadbill (Myiagra  freycineti),  Rufous  Fantail (Rhipidura  rufifrons), and Cardinal Honeyeater (Myzomela cardinalis).

Another species that appeared headed for a similar fate was Guam’s Micronesian Kingfisher (Todiramphus c. cinnamominus). Having evolved without the brown tree snake as a natural predator, the kingfishers were an easy target for the reptile, and by the early 1980s the bird’s population had dwindled to an estimated 29 individuals.

It was then that several U.S. zoos, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Guam’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources (DAWR) started a multi-agency effort to help keep the Micronesian Kingfisher off of Guam’s list of extinct  species — even  if  that  meant removing the remaining birds from the wild...

(read more: ABA’s Birding Magazine)