Nine extinct-in-the wild sihek (also known as Guam kingfishers) arrived at their new home at The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) preserve and research station at Palmyra Atoll, 1,000 miles south of Hawai’i, on Wednesday, according to a TNC press release.

Four female chicks and five males, completed their historic 4,500 mile flight from Wichita, Kansas safely and are temporarily settled into aviaries within their new home.

“Palmyra Atoll is an ideal location for rewilding these magnificent birds,” says Alex Wegmann, TNC’s lead scientist for Island Resilience. “It is one of the healthiest land and ocean ecosystems on the planet, is free of invasive predators like rats, is carefully studied and monitored, and is fully protected as a national wildlife refuge and TNC preserve.”