ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A rare bird, extinct in the wild, had an unexpected layover Tuesday at Lehigh Valley International Airport.
A Guam kingfisher, headed for a Texas zoo, was accidentally sent to the Lehigh Valley.
Janine Tancredi, co-executive director of The Wilderz at Pocono Wildlife, said her co-director, Susan Downing, got a call around 10:30 or 11 Tuesday night, "expressing concerns that the bird came from Tampa and was being flown to the Houston Zoo."
“At that same time, coming out of Tampa, there were exotic birds that were being flown to Allentown to be picked up by a woman, a private breeder, and they must have mixed up the shipping," Tancredi said.
"The exotic birds wind up getting delivered to Houston, and the kingfisher wound up getting delivered here.”
Tancredi, along with Sampson Metzgar, Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center’s lead avian specialist, took the 40-minute drive to the airport to check on the bird and provided food and water before its rescheduled flight.
It was a “once in a lifetime” experience for the wildlife rehabilitators, Tancredi said.
"We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the recent mix-up of two birds," a Delta spokesperson said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
"We acted quickly to address the situation, ensuring the birds were cared for, fed and given water.
"Both birds are now headed to their intended destinations."
Extinct in the wild since the 1980s
Guam kingfishers, native to the island after which they’re named, are medium-sized birds with large heads and strong beaks, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
While males have a cinnamon-brown body, females are similar, but have white breast feathers and are slightly larger than males.
Juveniles have more of a "dusty" coloring before their orange plumage brightens.
They’ve been extinct in the wild since the 1980s because of the invasive brown tree snake.
The small population that remains is housed in zoos or conservation facilities.
Not stressed, just hungry
Tancredi said the bird at Lehigh Valley International Airport was secured in a shipping container, similar to a cat carrier with netting.
“The problem was that, according to the care sheet that was attached to his shipping container, he hadn't been fed for 24 hours — fed or watered,” she said.
“We've never been called out for anything like this.”Janine Tancredi, co-executive director of The Wilderz at Pocono Wildlife
“So the concern was after rescheduling the flight, which was supposed to go out at 1 o'clock this afternoon to arrive at 4, that he would have been at that point close to 48 hours without food or water.”
It didn’t seem very stressed — just hungry, she said.
Metzgar fed the bird grasshoppers and a few mealworms. It also drank some water.
The bird was “beautiful,” Tancredi said, describing it as bright orange with a large black beak.
She was unsure whether the bird was male or female.
Asked whether wildlife rehabilitators had ever been called to the airport before, Tancredit said, “To my knowledge — not involving us anyway."
"We've never been called out for anything like this,” she said.
