Exciting start of the season 2019
Newsletter 28/03/2019
This years’ spring migration of our wild birds has started earlier than ever before. The female Luna (generation 2013) has already arrived on 5 March in its breeding area in Burghausen. This is the earliest arrival in a breeding area so far.
On March 16, the male Jazu (Generation 2011) was the next bird to arrive in Burghausen.
Both are experienced migratory birds, and both are wild birds; they are descendants of Northern Bald Ibises that we released by us (F1 generation). They hatched in Burghausen, were raised by their parents and followed their conspecifics in autumn to the wintering area. Now they are again expected to raise their own offspring and to guide them to the wintering area. Thus, the newly established migration tradition has already been passed on over several generations. Each year, it’s very exciting for us to witness this development.
The two ibises are already showing courtship behaviour. Soon they will have company, as a whole bunch of other ibises is on the way towards north. The Animal Tracker app is perfect to track their flights.
This year we expect that more than 30 sexually mature birds will return to the two breeding areas Burghausen and Kuchl (last year it was 21). In addition, some subadult birds should arrive in the breeding areas in later spring. Some of them are supposed to fly to Überlingen at Lake Constance for the first time. However, they won’t breed as they are not mature yet.
We are already preparing for this year's hand-raising. The ibises of Tierpark Rosegg are already breeding; on April 10 we plan to pick up the first chicks to bring them to Zoo Vienna, where the initial phase of hand-raising will take place again. In total, we want to hand-raise 32 ibises in 2019. Mid of May, we plan to transfer the young birds to a training camp in Baden-Württemberg. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to return to Hödingen, as those subadult birds that are expected to return to Lake Constance would interfere with the flight training. We are currently looking for an alternative location for the camp some 10-15 km away from Hödingen.
At the end of this year, the current LIFE+ project ends. On 30 January, we submitted a full proposal for a second LIFE project, starting in 2020. In May, the European Commission will announce whether they will fund our next project. For now, all we can do is to keep our fingers crossed.
Picture (H Widowitz): Northern Bald Ibises with their characteristic flight profile are now being observed again by many people along the migration route. The current whereabouts and migration routes can be tracked using Animal Tracker.
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