“Hannibal“ in Switzerland
Newsletter 21/07/2016
In autumn 2012, the Northern Bald Ibis called Shorty fell behind during the migration flight towards south and therefore overwintered in Switzerland near Lake Zug on her own. This story caused much sensation, especially in Switzerland. Now the story repeats, this time concerning the young female NBI called “Hannibal”.
Hannibal was born in Tierpark Rosegg (Carinthia). She was raised and trained by Pablo and Daniela. During the penultimate human-led migration flight in 2015, she went lost close to the Apennines and vanished without a trace.
On June 20 2016, Hannibal was spotted quite surprisingly in Milan, from where she disappeared again rather quickly. On July 19, she was spotted again, this time in the canton of Ticino/Switzerland, at the northern edge of Lake Maggiore (coordinates 46.16476, 8.94410). Obviously, she is in good condition. Just like Shorty, Hannibal survived winter all on her own. For her that´s even more surprising because – in contrast to Shorty, who grew up as a wild bird – Hannibal was hand-raised by human foster parents and, until her disappearance, well protected and cared for.
Together with our Swiss partners we´re now trying to catch Hannibal and to integrate her into the wild NBI population. A catching authorisation has already been requested. As the bird is not equipped with a GSP transmitter we are dependent on information from the public.
In the meantime, the flight training in Seekirchen am Wallersee makes good progress. As previously reported, we already had to merge the two groups in mid-June. This rather unplanned experiment develops in a very exciting way. Yesterday, 27 birds followed the microlight to a meadow. On the way back, we deliberately chose to fly a detour, to see if the birds are continuing to follow the microlight or if they are choosing to fly back a direct route. They decided to stay with us, which is a very good sign; the birds have understood what it´s all about and are willing to fly with us. This can´t be taken for granted, especially since half of the birds are not imprinted on the two foster mothers Corinna and Anne.
Photo (Sandra Lagattolla): A photo of Hannibal in Ticino. She was spotted there in the company of grey herons and cormorants. Shorty, too, socialized with various bird species during winter.
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