Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) (4 Viewers)

[Mohamed Amezian]

GPS tags and corneal opacity

Fritz, J., Eberhard, B. Esterer, C. Trobe, D. & Scope, A. 2019. Unilateral corneal opacity as a result of GPS tracking in a European Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) population released in the context of a LIFE+ reintroduction project. Short communication by Waldrappteam.

This research is now published in a journal:

Fritz, J., Eberhard, B., Esterer, C., Goenner, B., Trobe, D., Unsoeld, M., Voelkl, B., Wehner, H. & Scope, A. 2020. Biologging is suspect to cause corneal opacity in two populations of wild living Northern Bald Ibises (Geronticus eremita). Avian Research 11(1): 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-020-00223-8

 

[Mohamed Amezian]

The reason they switched the “wintering areas" from Italy to southern Spain:

Fritz, J.; Unsoeld, M.; Goenner, B.; Kramer, R.; Siebert-Lang, L.; Wehner, H. 2024. Mitigating Acute Climate Change Threats to Reintroduced Migratory Northern Bald Ibises. Preprints 2024, 2024100787. doi:10.20944/preprints202410.0787.v1


Also, according to an article they published last year, the reintroduced population is close to self-sustainability:

Drenske, S., Radchuk, V., Scherer, C., Esterer, C., Kowarik, I., Fritz, J., & Kramer-Schadt, S. 2023. On the road to self-sustainability: Reintroduced migratory European northern bald ibises Geronticus eremita still need management interventions for population viability. Oryx, 57(5), 637–648. doi:10.1017/S0030605322000540

 

[jurek]

Surprising is that Northern Bald Ibis reintroduction to Europe attracted so little interest and support of birders.

There is a terrible 'shifting baseline'. Birds disappearing within a memory span of birders, like Bearded Vulture in Switzerland, get much conservation attention. Birds and mammals extinct longer, like Northern Bald Ibis, get no interest or are seen as 'exotic'. Conservation projects come from outside the ornithologist / birdwatching community, more other conservationists or zoos.

 

[Richard Prior]

Surprising is that Northern Bald Ibis reintroduction to Europe attracted so little interest and support of birders.

There is a terrible 'shifting baseline'. Birds disappearing within a memory span of birders, like Bearded Vulture in Switzerland, get much conservation attention. Birds and mammals extinct longer, like Northern Bald Ibis, get no interest or are seen as 'exotic'. Conservation projects come from outside the ornithologist / birdwatching community, more other conservationists or zoos.

I think it’s a great project and I often send snippets of news/ updates to other birders I know. The fact that we’re now seeing wild-born individuals trying out new migration routes is encouraging.

 

[John Cantelo]

Surprising is that Northern Bald Ibis reintroduction to Europe attracted so little interest and support of birders.

There is a terrible 'shifting baseline'. Birds disappearing within a memory span of birders, like Bearded Vulture in Switzerland, get much conservation attention. Birds and mammals extinct longer, like Northern Bald Ibis, get no interest or are seen as 'exotic'. Conservation projects come from outside the ornithologist / birdwatching community, more other conservationists or zoos.

I'm not sure it's entirely true that Bald Ibises have attracted "little interest" from birders. The colony at La Barca de Vejer (Cadiz Province) certainly gets a lot of attention from visiting birders to the point where it's unusual to spend much time there when they're breeding without being joined by other birders. I'm often asked where to see them outside the breeding season when they're not on their nesting ledges all day. As for "support", since the project is well-funded and run, I'm not sure what birders could do to support it. It's not unusual to see reports of their migration southwards in the press (including birding magazines).

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I'm not sure it's entirely true that Bald Ibises have attracted "little interest" from birders. The colony at La Barca de Vejer (Cadiz Province) certainly gets a lot of attention from visiting birders to the point where it's unusual to spend much time there when they're breeding without being joined by other birders. I'm often asked where to see them outside the breeding season when they're not on their nesting ledges all day. As for "support", since the project is well-funded and run, I'm not sure what birders could do to support it. It's not unusual to see reports of their migration southwards in the press (including birding magazines).

They've also spent quite a few Euros on that viewing platform for all the birders that used to clutter up the main road and get in the way of the trucks, cars and buses.

The bushes have been cut back since this 2022 photo.

 

[Farnboro John]

I saw mine in Morocco so I'm not likely to spend additional time trying for them in Europe, but I certainly got a kick out of the flock we saw!

John

 

[pbjosh]

I think some of the controversy surrounding the reintroductions in central Europe has to do with a perhaps not too uncommon opinion / feeling that the birds are really not becoming wild or behaving like wild birds and that the funds could be better spent on habitat protection in other areas. Personally I’m not sure how I feel about it. I am friends with and respect several people in the conservation world who have some of the opinions I’ve just mentioned. However, if the project is not directly competing for funding with other projects I have a hard time really looking down on it. I admit I don’t know many details but the fact that the birds are now needing to change migration route as they were unable to successfully migrate over the alps, and the fact that they’re extremely tame and frequently not behaving much like wild birds does make me raise my eyebrows a bit and wonder.

It’s a real shame that the colonies in Algeria and Turkey/Syria were extirpated and we are down to one genetic stock of actual wild birds. Hopefully Morocco will remain stable and the future of that population remains secure.