Meet the Guam rail.

It's a tiny species of flightless bird from (shockingly) Guam.

They are currently extinct in the wild due to predation from an invasive species of snake accidentally introduced to the island.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is leading the charge to assist the fish and wildlife folks stationed on Guam with reviving the wild population.

They breed the birds that were brought to the mainland and release the young, healthy birds when there is a sustainable number of them. (Although, the snake population is still an issue, so there hasn't been as much releasing happening as they'd like, yet.)

A SNAFU with the airline they use to transport the birds back to Guam ended up with my zoo housing five of their to-be-released birds until they could work out an alternative.

Today they finally came back to retrieve their birds (YAY!).

And I got to help catch them up!

We split into teams. I and a partner worked to catch one of them and I got my hands on it first!

Imagine trying to grab a much smaller, faster, crazier chicken with your bare hands.

Then, we got pulled in to assist with another catch when it was taking too long and I grabbed that one, too!

I am two for five today.

I got to hold two super rare animals, guys! Most people won't even ever see one, let alone get their hands on one.

It was awesome. <3

This is so awesome

It was amazing. I've been having some anxious second thoughts lately, wondering if I am really doing the right thing. Today felt like a nice confirmation I'm in the right place.

You are!

You're doing amazing and good things and you will continue to do so!

Rare birb!!

what wonderful work they're doing!

these are so cute

AmbularD Hopefully one day not so rare.

thirty sickos. They are adorable. I'm glad we still have three of our own at the zoo. I am going to miss those other little guys.

Bev McIntyre