On Guam there is no birdsong, you cannot imagine the trauma of a silent island | Julian Aguon

Climate change, invasive species and military expansion have formed an unholy trinity that threatens our small but ancient civilizationBefore it is lost is series of essays from the Pacific islandsFor about as long as I've been alive, there have been no sihek on the island of Guam.The sihek, or the Guam kingfisher, is a beautiful blue-gold songbird that's been extirpated in the wild since the 1980s. Like most of Guam's native birds - 10 out of 12 native species - the sihek rapidly declined after the introduction of the invasive brown tree snake brought to the island after the second world war as a stowaway on military ships. Continue reading...