Today Jim Lyles wrote:

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

In 1984, a biologist from Guam,(my memory tells me his name was Bob Beck,
but its a very fuzzy memory) came to the Jean Delacour Symposium on
Breeding Birds in Captivity held in Los Angeles. His intention was to
bring to the attention to the zoo and avicultural community the plight of
Guam's endemic birds. He announced that a dozen or more species were in
imminent danger of extinction, and that the cause at that time was not
certain but that brown tree snakes were suspected as decimating the
populations. He wondered if the American Association of Zoological Parks
and Aquariums, now known as the American Zoo Association (AZA), could
somehow help by taking birds into captivity for breeding. Fortunately,
there were several members of the AZA's Wildlife Conservation and
Management Committee, including myself, present at the symposium and the
wheels were soon put into motion to form a consortium of zoos to work with
several of the species. Unfortunately, several of the species were from
groups with which we had no experience in breeding or even maintaining.
One example was the guam swiftlet. Swifts are virtually unheard of in
captivity. This bird has, I believe since gone extinct. Some bird were
good candidates for a captive propagation program, however, namely the Guam
rail, Marianas crow, and Micronesian kingfisher. Birds from each of these
species were captured and moved to mainland zoos. Species Survival
Programs for each of these species were established and breeding programs
were initiated. Efforts with the crow were successful to some extent but
the history of the crow program is very complex and I really don't
understand it. However, the wild population is apparently still viable.
The Micronesian kingfisher program led to an increased population that is
increasing in stability with about 70 individuals existing in 11 U.S. zoos.
The success of the Guam rail program was such that many youngsters were
produced quite rapidly and a stable and increasing population was soon
established. In 1990, several birds were re-introduced to the Marianas, not
to Guam but onto Rota, just to the North. Since then many mainland
produced birds were sent to the Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources
on Guam to set up captive breeding there. This program has been pretty
successful and at present, 16-17 birds exist on Rota and there has been
reproduction in this population. There are no known brown tree snakes on
Rota. The problem is...Are you redy for this? The rails on Rota are now
at risk from... Guess what... FERAL CATS!

Greg

Greg Toffic
Curator of Birds
Woodland Park Zoo "Black holes are where God
5500 Phinney Avenue N. divided by zero."
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 684-4836 (Ph)
(206)233-7278 (FAX)