On August 28, exactly two weeks after our departure from Überlingen at Lake Constance, we and 29 hand-raised Northern Bald Ibises arrived at the WWF Oasi Laguna di Orbetello. In the course of this extraordinary migration we covered a distance of 885 km within five flight stages.
All birds from the colonies in Kuchl and Burghausen already left their breeding areas two weeks ago, forming one big group of Northern Bald Ibises that will fly towards south independently.
Since April 23rd, 33 Norther Bald Ibis chicks are hand-raised at Zoo Vienna by their two human foster parents Corinna Esterer and Anne-Gabriela Schmalstieg. Visitors of Zoo Vienna are able to watch the foster mothers at work; additionally, project team members are providing information about the European LIFE+ reintroduction project.
Only one flight stage separates the team of this year’s human-led migration from the wintering area Laguna di Orbetello.
Yesterday we successfully completed one of the last training flights with the Northern Bald Ibises in Überlingen at Lake Constance. The 31 birds fly reliably in the company of the two aircrafts.
Yesterday we reached the airfield of Thiene on the northern edge of the Padan Plain. The Alps were crossed in only three flight stages with a total distance of 408 km. Now there are around 500 km left to reach the wintering area of the Northern Bald Ibises.
On July 21, we lost four Northern Bald Ibises due to electrocution on an unsecured pylon of a medium-voltage power line in Hochburg-Ach in Upper Austria.
Waldrappteam has been awarded a three-year research project by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). In this project we want to use the unique possibilities of human-led migrations with the NBI to explore in depth the fascinating phenomenon of the formation flight in migratory birds.
On August 15 started the human-led migration towards Southern Tuscany! After nearly three months of training in Hödingen near Überlingen at Lake Constance, all 31 hand-raised Northern Bald Ibises got past all difficulties and follow the two aircrafts easily.
The flight training with 31 Northern Bald Ibises in Überlingen / Hödingen is progressing well. The birds now fly very reliably with the paraplanes.
After a long winter break, it is high time to start the new season 2018 with a newsletter. The results of a recent modelling offer a good opportunity. Based on the data of our wild living NBI population, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin performed matrix models, which calculated the future population development of our NBIs over a period of 15 years.
