Lab celebrates pair of kingfishers

by Krystal Paco

Guam - The Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Lab celebrated its two latest additions. A pair of Micronesian kingfishers. According to wildlife biologist Laura Duenas, the birds are an endangered species and endemic to Guam.

"Keep them in the forefront of your memory, don't forget about these guys," said Laura Duenas, a biologist. "That's why we ask everyone on Guam to reduce the stray cat and dog population. If we get these guys back out into the wild that would be one of the predators they'd have to go up against. The less we have of them the better it will be."

The chicks feed on geckos and crickets. Duenas adds that the wildlife lab is lucky to have two to three chicks a year. There are plans to get a breeding pair out to Cocos Island within a year and later to predator free zones like that at the Ritidian Wildlife Refuge.