We did it!
Newsletter 07/09/2017
Yesterday, on the 6th of September, we arrived in the wintering area and were able to successfully complete the 12th Human-led Migration.
From the airfield in Borgo San Lorenzo we passed Florence and Siena and then flew over the wonderful Tuscan countryside to the destination area. The last stage was 190 km long. Within 24 days and 7 stages, we flew over 940 km in total.
Of the original 31 birds, one died during the migration due to internal injuries after eating metal pieces. The remaining 30 birds have now learned the flight route into the wintering area. This takes us a very important step towards the establishment of the third breeding colony of Northern Bald Ibises in Überlingen at Lake Constance. The birds now stay in an aviary in the center of the protected area WWF Oasi Laguna di Orbetello for about three weeks. The two foster mothers Corinna and Anne-Gabriela are also there, but they will more and more withdraw from the birds. The young birds can get accustomed to the environment and the wild NBIs outside the aviary, before they are released in several small groups. We expect the first birds to return to Überlingen in 2019.
One of the highlights of this migration was the spectacular flight on 2400 m above sea level from Vorarlberg over the Arlberg to Tirol. Less successful was the first start in Ried in the Oberinntal, where we were not able to cross the Reschenpass due to a lack of thermals. A day later, on the second attempt, this flight was no longer a problem due to the support of thermal winds.
The dramatic highlights of this migration were the two attacks of golden eagles in the Alps, once in the Vintschgau near Merano and once south of Bolzano. There was another attack of a bird during our flight above the Apennine, but we weren´t able to identify the attacker in this case. Fortunately, we didn´t lose any birds during these incidents. However, we had to interrupt one flight above the Alps, and after the attack at the Apennine, nine birds separated from the formation and flew back towards North. This cumulation of attacks by birds of prey during the last two human-led migrations is probably due to the fact that we tried to guide the birds in thermals to save energy. These thermals are also preferably used by large birds of prey.
Picture (C Esterer): The NBIs during the last flight stage of the human-led migration 2017.
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