Pittsburgh’s National Aviary has hatched two Guam kingfisher chicks—sihek—marking fresh momentum in a long-running effort to restore a bird that has been extinct in the wild for about 40 years. The male hatched April 19, the female on May 12, and the pair will
Inside Pittsburgh’s National Aviary, two baby Guam kingfishers are taking their first breaths—and, for a species that has not existed in the wild for decades, each day matters.
The aviary recently hatched two chicks of the Guam kingfisher, known as sihek in the indigenous Chamoru language. The male hatched on April 19, the female hatched on May 12, and by May 27 the male chick took his first flight. The work is part of a global attempt to reintroduce a bird species that was wiped from the wild after Guam’s invasive brown tree snake decimated its population.
The end goal is not a return to cages. The plan is to pair the birds as part of a program aiming to restore Guam kingfishers in the wild—so they can travel thousands of miles west as the restoration effort continues.
For now, the chicks are in the National Aviary’s behind-the-scenes Breeding Center, while visitors can still see numerous other birds throughout the facility. Tickets start at $20.95 for adults, $17.95 for children ages two to 12, and $18.95 for seniors.
The breeding effort is tied to a structured conservation blueprint. The National Aviary is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Guam kingfisher Species Survival Plan Program. Over the past 10 years. the aviary has hatched more than 20 Guam kingfishers in Pittsburgh to support the Sihek Recovery Program. a collaborative international effort to re-establish the bird in the wild.
The list of organizations and agencies involved is wide—reflecting how many parts have to line up for a recovery like this: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Guam Department of Agriculture’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources; Zoological Society of London; The Nature Conservancy; Sedgwick County Zoo; Association of Zoos and Aquariums; and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
There is also a carefully staged path for the birds after they leave Pittsburgh. The National Aviary says chicks hatched in Pittsburgh travel to Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas to be reared to adulthood. Mature birds are then released at Palmyra Preserve on Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. about 1. 000 miles south of Honolulu. Hawaii.
On the island, researchers track the birds so they can monitor movement and survival—and also how the birds use their habitat. So far, nine Guam kingfishers have been released on Palmyra Atoll. Three of those birds were hatched and hand-reared at the National Aviary.
The experience of the program is already reaching into the calendar. The birds—female Långet. and males Mames and Sindålu—made their home on the island with six other birds in September 2024. For the recovery team. that moment carried special weight: it marked the first time since 1988 that Guam kingfishers have lived in the wild.
The conservation storyline is evolving in real time. Guam kingfishers have only been living in the wild again since 2024. In February 2025, the Sihek Recovery Program observed nesting behavior from Mames and Långet. Sindålu and another female showed bonding behaviors. Later. Mames and Långet and another pair of kingfishers laid and incubated eggs. and while the eggs were not fertile. the National Aviary described the development as a good sign for what could come next.
The reason the recovery hinges on Palmyra is rooted in what pushed the species to near obliteration in the first place. According to the National Aviary. the Guam kingfisher was driven to the edge of extinction by the brown tree snake. an invasive species on Guam. Biologists rescued 29 birds in the late 1980s, preventing total extinction. The birds have been extinct in the wild for about 40 years.
To give the sihek a fighting chance, the introduction is gradual and deliberately placed where the snakes can’t follow. The birds are being introduced to Palmyra Atoll on a trial basis, where there are no brown tree snakes.
Back in Pittsburgh, the work is still early—just days into the chicks’ lives. But the dates are already pinned to the calendar: April 19 for the male. May 12 for the female. May 27 for the male’s first flight. In a recovery effort that has lasted decades and depends on dozens of institutions. those small milestones are the kind that keep the future from slipping away.
National Aviary Pittsburgh Guam kingfisher sihek Palmyra Atoll brown tree snake conservation species survival plan Sedgwick County Zoo U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service