Wind beneath 32 pairs of wings
Newsletter 25/06/2016
As stated already in a previous newsletter, the two NBI groups reared by human foster parents have been merged to a group on June 17. Since then, the 32 birds are kept in a large aviary at Gezing, Seekirchen am Wallersee, cared for by the two foster mothers Anne and Corinna (CorAnne).
Never before we had such a large group. Caring for them is a huge challenge, mastered excellently by CorAnne. A working day for both of them is 12 hours, 7 days a week. Around 6 kilos of mixed food has to be prepared and fed per day. This is very time-consuming in itself because each single bird is fed four times a day by the foster parents.
The biggest challenge to CorAnne however is to establish a close social bond with each bird. For those 16 birds that were raised by Anne and Corinna, this is largely guaranteed by imprinting. But the confidence of the other 16 birds has to be obtained. It was therefore very exciting for all of us when the free flights started. There it will turn out how strong the social bond between the birds and the caregivers really is.
Yesterday, the third free flight took place and it went very well. CorAnne opened the aviary and collected the birds on the ground next to the aircraft (at this stage without wing and therefore also without pilot). Then both took place in the aircraft, the engine started and they moved for about 300 meters. It was important to motivate the birds to fly along and this worked out well. All 32 birds followed them and then landed close to CorAnne.
It will still need about a week of training to get the birds used to the wing. The next exciting phase will be when the first real flights will be performed. Since the training has gone well so far, there is every reason for optimism.
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