Guam Rail

Nine of the 11 species of native forest-dwelling birds have been extirpated from Guam. Five of these were endemic at the species or subspecies level and are now extinct on Guam. Two of these species, the Guam Rail and the Micronesian Kingfisher, are being captively bred in zoos in the hope that they can eventually be released back into the wild. Several other native species exist in precariously small numbers, and their future on Guam is perilous. Most native forest species, including the Guam rail, were virtually extinct when they were listed as threatened or endangered by the US.

The Guam Rail is classified as Extinct in the Wild (EW), known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range.

The Guam Rail, Gallirallus owstoni, (Local name: Ko'ko' ) is a flightless bird, endemic to Guam. The Guam Rail, which is locally known as the Ko'ko' in Chamorro, disappeared from southern Guam in the early 1970s and was extirpated from the entire island by the late 1980s. This species is now being bred in captivity by the Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources on Guam and at some mainland U.S. zoos. More

species, including the Guam rail, were virtually extinct when they were listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984. A recent effort to introduce rails on Guam in a 22 hectare forested area concentrated on protecting the rails by limiting snakes using a combination of trapping and a perimeter barrier to reduce re-invasion by snakes. This endeavor allowed the tentative survival of several pairs of rails released into the area. More

• Guam rails can fly only about 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 meters) at a time! • In their native Guam, the birds are called Ko'Ko'. Animal Bytes: Guam Rail = Range: historically on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, now only on the island of Rota as an introduced population. More

The Guam Rail is a special bird. Locally known as the "ko'ko' ", it is endemic to Guam, which means it is found only on Guam and nowhere else in the world. This bird is dark brown with white stripes on its stomach. A Chamoru legend tells how the ko'ko' got its stripes. One day a monitor lizard, or "hilitai", and a ko'ko' decided they looked too plain, so the ko'ko' began painting the hilitai. More

The Guam Rail was once abundant, commonly seen in backyards and agricultural fields. It was once hunted for food. Threats: Habitat destruction and predation by the brown treesnake as well as feral cats, possibly pigs and monitor lizards. By Gretchen R. Grimm, M.S. Related posts: 1. Guam Flycatcher 2. A. Native Forest Birds of Guam 3. Micronesian Starling 4. More

Guam rails (Rallus owstoni) are a small flightless bird that lived only on the island of Guam in the Mariana Archipelago in the Pacific. They are omnivorous, eating leaves, seeds, fruits, small lizards, bird eggs, small mammals, and carrion. Introduction of Predator The introduction of brown tree snakes (Boiga irregularis) in the 1950s almost spelled doom for the rails. Snakes feeding on the rails' young and eggs caused the Guam rail population to crash to only 21 birds by 1985. More

The Guam Rail has a brown head, neck and eye stripe; near gray throat and upper breast; short wings that are dark with brownish spots and barred with white; lower breast, abdomen, under tail coverts, and tail are blackish with white barrings; gray bill, long legs and dark brown feet; and red iris. Females are similar but slightly smaller than male. More

Guam Rail elsewhere on the web * Wikipedia * http://www.itis.gov/... * Ellerdale (real-time trends) Edit and Show details Add or delete facts, download data in JSON or RDF formats, and explore topic metadata. Freebase Logo What is Freebase? Freebase is a huge collection of facts, built by people like you. More

The Ko'ko or Guam rail, is the Territorial Bird of Guam. The Guam rail is mostly dark brown with white stripes on the bottom of its stomach. This flightless bird is endemic to Guam, meaning it occurs naturally here and nowhere else in the world. Thousands of years ago when the bird first came to Guam it was able to fly, but because it had no natural predators on Guam it slowly lost the ability to fly. More

Area 50 on Andersen Air Force Base in 1998, and 16 Guam rails were released into the area in November 1998 the first Guam rails to exist in the wild on the island since the mid-1980s. Breeding was documented, however, the small population was believed to have been extirpated by feral cats and other predators. A second release of 44 Guam rails was undertaken in a snake controlled area of Anderson Air Force Base in 2003. More

Smithsonian / Smithsonian: Guam Rail - Endemic Victim of an Exotic Species ... GUAM RAIL 98 Fact Sheet (9/1/98) (pdf format) - Photo, Video and/or Article contributions are welcome! Please click here for info The Avianweb strives to maintain accurate and up-to-date information; however, mistakes do happen. If you would like to correct or update any of the information, please send us an e-mail. More

His efforts to save the Guam rail began in 1982 and lasted more than 20 years. Beck was considered to be instrumental in capturing the remaining population of Guam rails and establishing captive breeding programs for the species on Guam. He later established a release site and an introduced breeding population of Guam rails on the neighboring island of Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands. Beck was also a driving force in establishing Guam rail breeding programs in zoos throughout the mainland United States. More

The Guam rail is a small, flightless bird that was native to the island of Guam. Much like the dodo, this flightless bird was specially adapted to life without many predators. Sometime after World War II, the brown tree snake was accidentally introduced to the island from Asia. The birds were virtually defenseless against snakes because they were not adapted to cope with such predators. By the 1970’s, nine of Guam’s eleven native species of birds were extinct. More

Shortly after, end of 1986, the Guam rail was declared extinct in the wild. The primary goal of the breeding program was to maintain the 21 birds in captivity with the hopes of releasing back into the wild as soon as possible. Breeding began and the first successful hatching occurred in August of 1984 on Guam. Later that year 10 rails were transferred to zoological facilities in the United States to aid in this captive breeding program. More

A flightless bird, the Guam rail is mostly dark brown with white stripes on its belly. Its compact body enables the species to move rapidly through dense vegetation. - Range The endangered Guam rail once flourished on Guam but is extinct there due to the introduction of the brown tree snake. A small number of birds from an experimental breeding program live on Rota, an island just south of Guam. More

Guam Rail, Extinct In The Wild For 22 Years, To Be Reintroduced To Guam = 25/01/2008 16:20:36A draft Safe Harbour Agreement that proposes to establish a breeding population of the endangered ko'ko' or Guam rail on Cocos has been published. Cocos Island Resort and the Guam Department of Agriculture have applied a permit to re-introduce the bird, which is extinct in the wild, to 83. More

Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for the Guam Rail on Cocos Island, Guam 03/08/2007 72 FR 10547 10550 Initiation of 5-Year Reviews of 71 Species in Oregon, Hawaii, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Territory of Guam 12/05/2002 67 FR 72407 72408 Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; determinations of prudency for two mammal and four bird species in Guam and the Commonwealth of the nothern Mariana Islands and designations of critical habitat More

Guam rail (Gallirallus owstoni), a flightless bird, had nowhere to hide. In the 1980s, Zoo scientists helped to corral the last few birds and to start a zoo breeding program. This last-ditch effort probably saved the species. Guam rails breed well in zoos, and the current world zoo population is about 200. In 1989, Guam rails were introduced to the nearby snake-free island of Rota, and this population now appears to be established and increasing. More

the Guam rail was extirpated from the wild in the early 1980’s. It survived only in captive-breeding facilities in Guam and in 14 zoos in the USA. In the 1980s, several zoos and government agencies corralled the last few Guam rails to start a zoo breeding programme. Guam rails breed well in zoos, and the current world zoo population is about 200. More

Reintroduction of Guam Rails to the wild is proceeding through several stages. Rails are bred in several zoos (see Captive Breeding). The first releases were made on Rota which has habitat very similar to the Rail's native home, and an absence of brown treesnakes. Following experience with this, Rails were released in a large fenced area on Northwest Field, where snakes were excluded. More

The Guam Rail is extinct in the wild. It has dark brown on the upperparts with a dull green band on their breast that fades to gray. A gray stripe stretches from the bill to the hind-neck, with a brown stripe through the eye. The bill is black with a gray base, and the legs are gray. The breast, abdomen, wing feathers, and the outer primary feathers have distinct black and white barring. More