Positive interim balance of the first human-led migration to Andalusia
35 juvenile birds, 2 aircraft, 3 countries, 14 flight stages and 1.620 kilometres of flight – that is the positive interim balance of the human-led migration Baden-Württemberg to Barbate and Vejer de la Frontera in Andalusia.
Human-led migration 2023: Past Barcelona
The past week was turbulent but also very successful. Successful because we were able to continue migrating on five out of seven days, whereby we flew the final three days without any break days in between.
Human-led migration 2023: One third completed
On 3rd September, two weeks after the start, the team with the birds is at the very beautifully situated Saint Martin de Londres airfield north of Montpellier. On 4th September, a flight stage to Narbonne is planned. After this, our next stopover site will be in Spain.
Successful start of the human-led migration 2023
On August 21st, after some delay, the great journey from Binningen airfield, municipality of Hilzingen in Baden-Württemberg, to Vejer de la Frontera in Andalusia began. This is already the 16th human-led migration within the Northern Bald Ibis project, but it is a journey of superlatives and a big new challenge for the whole team.
Big stage for the Northern Bald Ibis
On August 19th, the New York Times published a large article on the Northern Bald Ibis project:
The New York Times: To Stop an Extinction, He’s Flying High, Followed by His Beloved Birds
Delayed but successful: Final training of 35 juvenile birds at Binningen airfield
In the last few weeks, unfavourable weather conditions have repeatedly hampered training with the juvenile Northern Bald Ibises at Binningen airfield, municipality of Hilzingen. In particular, the wind, which often emerged in the morning, has prevented flights of longer distances, as the predicted wind speed was close to the flying speed of the aircraft and the birds, around 45 km/h.
Electrocution of three juvenile Northern Bald Ibises and one parent-bird in Upper Austria
Never before has the breeding season in the Northern Bald Ibis colony of Burghausen in Bavaria been as successful as this year. A total of 23 birds fledged in seven nests, which corresponds to an average of 3.3 juveniles per nest.
Successful Return To Switzerland: Two Fledged Juvenile Northern Bald Ibises In Rümlang
In the last few days, two juvenile Northern Bald Ibises fledged in Rümlang, Canton Zurich, on a window ledge of the new Harley-Davidson branch there. Thus, 400 years after these charismatic ibises were exterminated in Europe, the first two juveniles have fledged in the wild in Switzerland.
The social bond
One of the most impressive pictures of our project was taken during a flight training session on June 21th, which in itself was unsuccessful. On this day, a heavy thunderstorm surprised us when we were on the runway of the Binningen airfield with the 35 juvenile birds and the flying equipment.
Successful breeding and new nest transfer
In the meantime, all chicks have hatched in the breeding areas. We don’t yet know the total number of chicks exactly, but it is shaping up to be a very good season. In Überlingen there are 16 chicks in six nests, which corresponds to a hatching rate of 2.7 chicks per nest.