A completely different perspective on bird flight: This year, four Northern Bald Ibises from the Zurich Zoo were hand-raised by Katharina Neugebauer and Frederik Amann. At the end of July, the four birds and their foster parents moved with to Seekirchen am Wallersee in Austria. Since July, a wind tunnel specially adapted to the requirements of NBIs has been set up in an abandoned stable.
On August 14th at 9:15 am, two microlight aircrafts took off from Heiligenberg; they were piloted by Walter Holzmüller and Johannes Fritz and had the two foster mothers Helena Wehner and Anne-Gabriela Schmalstieg aboard. It was the beginning of the 14th human-led migration in the context of the reintroduction of the Northern Bald Ibis in Europe. During the previous weeks, thirty birds were trained to follow the microlight aircrafts.
Heading towards a self-sustaining wild population
Last week our two field managers Daniela Trobe and Corinna Esterer started ringing the young birds hatched in the breeding areas Burghausen and Kuchl. They had quite an extensive job to do; after the last successful season of 2018 with 26 fledglings, the breeding success of 2019 is even higher, with 40 chicks in 13 nests (!) that hatched so far, and even more young birds are expected to hatch in the next weeks.
Sonic is a two-year old-old female Northern Bald Ibis; she belongs to the first generation of birds that were trained in Überlingen at Lake Constance in 2017 and were guided by ultralight aircrafts to the wintering area in Tuscany. In 2020, when these birds are sexually mature, they will return to Überlingen independently to breed.
This year we are training an excellent group of 31 young Northern Bald Ibises in Heiligenberg at Lake Constance. The birds are already reliably following the ultralight aircraft.
Currently, 36 young Northern Bald Ibises are hand-raised at the glider airfield Heiligenberg. 32 chicks stem from the breeding colony of Tierpark Rosegg in Carinthia. During the first weeks of hand-raising, they were staying at the Zoo of Vienna; mid of May, they were transferred to Heiligenberg.
The current LIFE+ project ends in 2019. We hope to continue the reintroduction as part of a second LIFE project from 2021 onwards; the application process is already ongoing. However, we do not want to pause the project in 2020 so as not to jeopardize the successful course of the reintroduction. For 2020, we still need another € 200,000 to fully implement the project. We would very much appreciate any financial support!
For any further questions, do not hesitate to contact the project manager Johannes Fritz: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The female Northern Bald Ibis Sonic belongs to the colony Überlingen; in 2017, she was guided to Tuscany and released into the wild. On June 5, 2019, Sonic left Tuscany again. Her flight is constantly monitored by GPS and can be followed by using the App Animal Tracker.
Since last year we run an exciting research project, which builds up on our successful studies on the mechanism, function and energetics of bird flight.
On August 26 we and 29 young Northern Bald Ibises arrived at the WWF reserve Laguna di Orbetello in southern Tuscany. It was the sixth human-led migration in the current LIFE+ project, the 14th altogether and, moreover, by far the most successful one.
By now, 22 Northern Bald Ibis chicks hatched at Georgenberg in Kuchl. Last season, there were 14 young birds; this significant increase compared to the previous year is a very positive development. So far, all birds have been breeding in artificial rock niches.
This years’ spring migration of our wild birds has started earlier than ever before. The female Luna (generation 2013) has already arrived on 5 March in its breeding area in Burghausen. This is the earliest arrival in a breeding area so far.
