In this ZIMS at Work article, we talk with Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia (United States). Her insight to reproductive strategies for endangered Red Siskin birds demonstrates why managed programs are essential to saving species.
When Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) welcomed its first flock of Red Siskins in 2015, it was an important step for an international initiative designed to save the endangered species. At the time, scientists estimated that fewer than 1,000 Red Siskins remained in the wild, and those lived in small, isolated flocks.
The birds were part of the Red Siskin Initiative (RSI) to return sustainable populations to their natural habitats, primarily in Venezuela. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Research Scientist Mike Braun and NZCBI Population Ecologist Kathryn Rodriguez-Clark co-founded the RSI and with international collaborators mapped a course to recover the species in the wild, potentially using re-introduction of breeding pairs to their natural habitats.
The first steps: to learn what the species requires to thrive in the wild, to reduce threats, and to sustain ex situ populations that would be essential to re-introducing the species in range countries. Efforts began at Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute, where teams ultimately established a flock of 25 birds at its largest, with multiple nests with hatchlings at a time.
“We managed the first Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Red Siskin flock on site and began coordinating the North American population across other facilities,” said Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper at NZCBI.
North American institutions joining the collaborative breeding program included Zoo Miami, the National Aviary, Tracy Aviary, the Wildlife Conservation Center, and the Avian Preservation and Education Conservancy – along with the Red Siskin Conservation Center at Leslie Pantin Zoo in Venezuela. Additional institutions have recently joined the Consortium, including Brookfield Zoo, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Safari Park, the Milwaukee County Zoo, and more that are on a waiting list to receive birds.
(Using ZIMS for Studbooks) has been a turning point for us. Because this is a species that has a relatively fast reproductive life, living just five to six years and with only a few years of breeding, we have a limited time to place individuals.Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Managing a Collaborative Breeding Program in ZIMS
Initially, Royer, working closely with Rodriguez-Clark, managed all of the data on individuals and breeding pairs in the collaborative breeding program by entering it into the studbook software, PopLink. At the time, collaborative breeding programs managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) were migrating their studbooks to ZIMS for Studbooks – a solution developed by nonprofit Species360 in conjunction with population management experts and association partners.
However, a ZIMS solution had not been developed for consortium breeding programs managed by a single institution, such as the Red Siskin Consortium. “ZIMS for Studbooks was not yet available to us, and we needed some way to organize the information,” said Royer.
That changed in the fall of 2020, when Species360 introduced ZIMS for Institutional Studbooks. “We had many requests from our members, to make ZIMS for Studbooks available for populations that were being managed within an institution, either within their own facility or for populations coordinated across multiple sites, said Katelyn Mucha, Senior Product Owner, Population Management, Species360.
Soon after, Royer became one of the first studbook keepers to use ZIMS for Institutional Studbooks, migrating NZCBI’s Red Siskin studbook records to ZIMS from PopLink.
“ZIMS has so much more functionality, it is user-friendly and makes it much easier to find what I need. In ZIMS, I can look up ancestry, pedigree antecedents and descendants. I just click, versus mapping out hand-drawn trees of an individual’s lineage. It is a lot less stressful to do what I need to do,” said Royer.
Using the ZIMS Institutional Studbook, Erica has been able to collect and track important information for Red Siskin population management that was not previously well known, such as lifespan in human care, reproductive lifespan, and mortality rates in chicks and adults.
“It has been a turning point for us,” said Royer. “Because this is a species that has a relatively fast reproductive life, living just five to six years and with only a few years of breeding, we have a limited time to place individuals.”
I love the Reproductive Dashboard in ZIMS. It shows the age that individuals first reproduce, and the span of time that they remain able to breed. I can pore over all of the data and figure out who bred first. ZIMS gives me that.Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Gaining insight from ZIMS
The insight that the team gets from ZIMS speeds the process of getting much of the information needed to make management decisions.
“There are so many ways to analyze the data. We can look at reproductive lifespan and (ZIMS) does everything for you. I automatically get updates from other zoos, such as deaths and transfers, which is super convenient,” said Royer. “Because we hope to grow from a Consortium to an AZA SAFE program someday, already having our data in ZIMS will make it that much easier when the time comes.”
In all, the program currently manages more than 75 Red Siskins across five institutions. Because managing the birds in flocks in more challenging than in pairs, all facilities are currently breeding in pairs rather than groups. Three more institutions will be added to the managed program in the coming weeks, and 13 more institutions are on the waiting list to join the program. Facilities interested in joining the Red Siskin Consortium should contact Erica Royer at royere <at> si.edu or Kate Rodriguez-Clark at rodriguez-clarkkm <at> si.edu.
Royer says it is helpful to be able to enter everything in ZIMS, even for facilities that hold Red Siskin breeding pairs but do not use ZIMS. For example, the Avian Preservation and Education Conservancy (APEC) in Jacksonville, Florida, which has a history of success working with Florida Grasshopper Sparrow reintroduction program, uses other management software, but has emerged as an exceptional facility for Red Siskin breeding success. Nonetheless, Royer finds it easy to enter their data into the ZIMS studbook.
In ZIMS, I can look up ancestry, pedigree antecedents and descendants. I just click, versus mapping out trees of an individual’s lineage. It is a lot less stressful to do what I need to do.Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Learning from Red Siskin breeding sites
Once successful group breeding protocols were developed, the Smithsonian research flock was relocated to other facilities, to make space at NZCBI for another species that is even more endangered. And successes with Red Siskins continued elsewhere. APEC joined RSI and the Consortium in 2017, and since then has produced over 70 Red Siskin chicks, all produced using pair-breeding protocols, and all parent-reared.
“The APEC team has been doing this for long enough that they have the diet down very well, managing the light cycles and the pairs,” said Royer.
APEC and NZCBI insights help colleagues in Venezuela and in US facilities to learn more about what is required for the Red Siskin to successfully reproduce.
The next step, says Royer, is to ensure all partners are able to reliably reproduce the species using pair-breeding protocols, to support rapid growth to an initial target population size of 140 birds. However, after that, the next goal is enable the birds to reproduce in flocks. This has been done successfully at NZCBI and she hopes others will soon be able to try this approach.
“Until now, the Smithsonian had been the only site to successfully breed Red Siskins in a flock while at other sites the species is bred in pairs. With a greater understanding of the species, the program will be able to begin to focus on how to enable breeding in flocks,” she said.
Developing breeding in groups will not only allow institutions to display the species as it would have historically appeared in the wild, and support a larger overall ex-situ population better able to fill its roles of threat reduction via effective education, and insurance against extinction; learning to maintain this species in groups also represents an essential step for rearing birds in Venezuela that could one day be reintroduced with competent wild reproductive behaviors.
To identify what is working, and what is not, RSI and Consortium partners meet quarterly to review husbandry best practices. The shared insights are a boon for Red Siskin populations in both the US and Venezuela.
“The facility in Venezuela has made a lot of improvements based on those husbandry meetings. Last year, they had chicks for the first time since opening in 2018. We were all so excited! And they had several hatchlings this year,” Royer added.
Previous information from private breeders indicated that the birds live just five to six years, and that they breed for just three to four years. ZIMS records show that individuals in our managed program are living longer than that, and their reproductive span is longer.Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Better records yield important discoveries
With five years of management now completed, Royer says that information accumulated in ZIMS is shedding new light on lifespan, reproduction, and growth of the species. Better records, says Royer, lead to demographic discoveries.
“Before we began management of the program, the information that we had on aspects such as reproductive lifespan was inconsistent. For the last five years, we have accumulated scientific data on all of the individuals and pairs at managed sites.”
“I love the Reproductive Dashboard in ZIMS. It shows the age that individuals first reproduce, and the span of time that they remain able to breed. I can pore over all of the data and figure out who bred first. ZIMS gives me that,” says Royer.
Sometimes it’s good news. Recently, these insights showed that the birds in the managed program are living — and reproducing — longer than previously expected.
“Previous information from private breeders indicated that the birds live just five to six years, and that they breed for just three to four years. ZIMS records show that individuals in our managed program are living longer than that, and their reproductive span is longer. The females are surprising us, with a recent example reproducing at almost five and a half years.”
This opens up greater opportunities for moving the population in the right direction.
“With such a small population, we want to make sure that we allow each female to contribute as long as it can,” said Royer. “How early can they breed? That will affect when we decide to ship birds. If they breed before one year, we have to have them placed where we think they will breed for their lifetime and be settled,” she adds.
The program also tracks other important factors, such as how an individual has been reared. Some that come from private breeders have been raised by canaries, and this can lead to changes to their normal vocalizations. By tracking that information in ZIMS, Royer ensures that these individuals are not mixed into the program.
The Red Siskin team recently released its first population management plan. (The population management plan is available on the Red Siskin Consortium AZA Network site, and readers must request to join the Consortium in order to view the plan.)
To inform the plan, Royer and Rodriguez-Clark created an analytical overlay and exported records to PMx from ZIMS. The resulting plan displays the population’s age structure, information on founders, their reproductive life, lifespan, and recommendations for moves and breeding pairs, among other details.
The Smithsonian team continues to hone their skills through other channels as well. Royer recently completed the Population Management II: Data Analysis and Breeding Recommendations course. The course teaches the integration of demography, genetics and husbandry to set population goals and make breeding recommendations for zoo and aquarium populations.
Next, the team hopes to apply for the Red Siskin Consortium to be an AZA “SAFE” program, or Saving Animals From Extinction. These programs focus the collective expertise within AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums and leverage their audiences to save species.
As Royer and the other scientists collaborating on RSI and the Consortium achieve a better understanding of what flocks require, the program can help Venezuelan institutions to establish populations for re-introduction to natural habitats.
Toward that end, the oversight Board of Trustees for nonprofit Species360 awarded a Conservation Membership to Leslie Pantin Zoo, and staff there are learning to enter data into ZIMS for Husbandry. This will help to ensure that complete updates are captured and included in Royer’s studbooks, and she and Rodriguez-Clark can assist with analyses on both the Venezuelan and US populations to support overall program objectives.
Ultimately, Royer hopes to one day see a Red Siskin in the wild. “We had a slow start figuring the birds out, and with those discoveries we have grown the population and the program. As we join together to support threat reduction in Venezuela, and have more breeding capacity across institutions in the US and Venezuela, we will see those reintroductions happen.”
What Royer and others experience with the Red Siskin contributes to their success on behalf of other species such as the Guam kingfisher and Guam rail programs. Royer is a keeper and aviculturist for birds of these species living at Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute. (Read about the Smithsonian’s role in is translocating Guam kingfisher birds to Palmyra Atoll here.)
“Starting the Red Siskin program from scratch has been a really good experience, and will help prepare me to coordinate the Guam kingfisher program,” said Royer.
Learn more about the Red Siskin Initiative here.
The Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) is maintained by nonprofit Species360. For more information, email firstname.lastname@example.org.