Shorty's first chick
Newsletter, 17.06.2015
Better late than never, the first chick of our famous female “Swiss Northern Bald Ibis” named “Shorty” has hatched. There is also a second egg in the nest, so a sibling may follow.
So far, the season 2015 was quite successful. Since yesterday, we have nine chicks in four nests in the breeding area Burghausen/Bavaria. Additionally, we have further seven chicks in two nests in the breeding area Kuchl/Salzburg. These chicks are raised by their free-living parent birds. Therefore, a new generation of wild Northern Bald Ibises is growing up. Most of the parent birds belong to the human-raised founder generation (F0), but some of them are already descendants of founder birds, so they belong to the generation F1. For example, Shorty and her partner Jazu are F1 birds. Therefore, their chick which hatched yesterday already belongs to the generation F2.
In addition, we have two training camps in the area of the village Seekirchen am Wallersee/Salzburg. There, a total of 32 chicks are raised by four human foster-parents. These chicks are some weeks older than the chicks in the breeding colonies. They are descendants of the sedentary breeding colony at the Tierpark Rosegg/Carinthia. Currently, we train them to follow the microlight aircraft. Visitors are welcome any time (for further information please click here)!
We hope that the season 2015 continues this promising way. However, the major challenge comes in the second half of this year, when all these birds of the new generation have to reach the wintering area WWF Oasi Laguna di Orbetello in Tuscany.
Picture: Parent birds at a feeding area with the skyline of the castle of Burghausen/Bavaria in the background. Since 2015, this huge castle is the new home for our Bavarian breeding colony. Currently, nine chicks are raised there. Picture: Martin Wimmer.
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