Subject: bird-eating Brown Tree Snakes [was "Cats and Hawaiian Birds"]
Date: Feb 26 10:46:11 1998
From: "James R Lyles III, Technical Editor, Tacoma, WA "<jrlyles at usgs.gov> - "James R Lyles III, Technical Editor, Tacoma, WA "<jrlyles at usgs.gov>



Indeed, Jack Bowling has it right: the bird-destroying
Brown Tree Snake is the varmint now worrying Hawaii and
other Pacific islands.

Shortly after World War II, the Brown Tree Snake made its
way from New Guinea or thereabouts to Guam, probably in
ships' cargo. On Guam, the snake had no natural enemies and
found lots of naive prey of all kinds. So it multiplied and
feasted, especially on vulnerable birds and their eggs.

When the fact that Guam's birds were vanishing became obvious,
the cause was a puzzle. Twelve endemic species have disappeared
so far, and several more are in imminent peril. But few people
believed that a single predator species could wipe out whole
endemic species so quickly.

For the story of how a handful of researchers pinned the blame
for the Guam's vanishing birds on the Brown Tree Snake (and
for a terrific read as well), see Mark Jaffe's book _And No
Birds Sing: A True Ecological Thriller Set in a Tropical
Paradise_ (1997)

From Guam, Brown Tree Snakes have spread to a number of
widespread Pacific Islands. Some of the snakes have indeed
made it northeast to Hawaii.

The Biological Resources Division (BRD--we pronounce it
"BiRD") of the US Geological Survey is even now engaged
in a joint project with the Pacific Basin Development Council
to research and publish information on the Brown Tree Snake.
Any Tweeters who are interested can search the BRD's web
pages for current information.

You can go directly to the BRD's search page at URL
<http://www.nbs.gov/excite/nbsquery.html>.
Plug the name "brown tree snake" into the search window, poke
the query button, and you'll come up with a good list of
links to pore through.

--cheers, Jim Lyles (plugging my agency just a little)
Tacoma