Kiantae Laguå’ña doesn’t just clock in for a job. She signs up for a mission.
As a wildlife technician who started with your Department of Agriculture’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources, DAWR, in July 2025, Laguå’ña plays an essential role in the survival of two of Guam’s most iconic and native birds: the ko’ko’ or Guam rail and the Guam sihek of kingfisher.
These endemic avian species live within DAWR’s lab and captive breeding facility also known as the railyard.
Culinary arts of conservation
Laguå’ña’s day-to-day duties read less like a standard field technician and resembled a culinary professional and personal attendant.
Her work is a meticulous blend of lab and railyard duties, where she feels like a personal chef preparing fresh food for each ko’ko’ and sihek. The six sihek prefer lizards so Laguå’ña hand captures scrumptious squamata for them.
Beyond the carefully prepared meals, significant time is dedicated to railyard maintenance, which is crucial to protecting these birds.
Vegetation maintenance in and around the perimeter of the breeding facility is imperative in the prevention of the return of the invasive little fire ant, which poses a risk to the birds’ health and habitat.
Year-round vegetation must be maintained to provide a firebreak, and to be able to monitor feral pigs and feral dogs that may pose a threat.
‘Aha moment’
When asked about her favorite part of the job, Laguå’ña highlights the satisfaction of helping her team with a common goal in mind, such as preparing snacks for the birds and providing fresh drinking water for all ko’ko’ and sihek.
In order to provide mealworms, it begins with staff preparing the right space and food for beetles to thrive.
Female beetles then lay their eggs that become larva, the stage at which it is food for the birds.
Some larvae go into a pupa stage and into the beginnings of a beetle, and the cycle starts over again.
This collaborative effort is driven by a deep realization she calls her “aha moment:” understanding how precious our natural resources are on Guam and that we all must be creative in our charge to save our island species for future generations.
Hope
One of Laguå’ña’s most rewarding experiences is having the opportunity to share firsthand accounts of being around ko’ko’ and sihek daily and providing helpful information to members of the community about these wonderful birds.
She says oftentimes, people mistake some of the birds like the kakkak to be the ko’ko’, and that is pretty common.
DAWR’s wildlife team will graciously field inquiries about the kakkak or yellow bittern, often baby birds fall out of trees, so we walk through steps for people to take if they decide to care for these birds or any birds for that matter.
The best advice for the community is to leave the baby birds where they are so that their parents may find them when they return to the nest.
Laguå’ña’s dedication to the natural world extends beyond her work hours. Currently pursuing a biology degree at the University of Guam, she is actively looking forward to obtaining certifications in wildlife conservation, including incubation, tagging, and surveying.
Laguå’ña and two other technicians are conservation champions that remind us that rather than seeing conservation as preserving what little is left, we should see this as a passionate conservation commitment to becoming good stewards to our native species.
It is through the hands-on dedication of people like Laguå’ña, John Quenga, and Peter Salas that the ko’ko’ and sihek have a chance to one day fill Guahan’s forests with beauty and bird calls once more.
If you have questions about our wildlife team’s next outreach event and presentations, call (671) 735-3981.
Yolonda Toves Topasna is a program coordinator in the Wildlife Office of the Division of Aquatics and Wildlife Resources under the Guam Department of Agriculture.
