In November 2018, five members of the LIFE project for the reintroduction of the Northern Bald Ibis joined the 2nd International Wildlife Reintroduction Conference in Chicago, organised by the IUCN Reintroduction Specialist Group and attended by conservationists from all over the world.
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.
The Northern Bald Ibis was downlisted in the IUCN red list of endangered species and is returning to Europe
Since 1994, the Northern Bald Ibis (NBI) was categorized as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List. Now, after 24 years, its status changed. Since August 2018, the NBI is now categorized as endangered.
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.
The autumn migration of our Northern Bald Ibises started quite regularly in early August. The birds from Burghausen and Kuchl left their breeding areas and gathered at the alpine foothills.
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.
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.
