Northern Bald Ibises colonize the rock face of Georgenberg
Newsletter 10/04/2020
More and more Northern Bald Ibises depart from their wintering area in Tuscany and arrive at their breeding sites. The groups in Burghausen and Kuchl currently consist of eight birds each. Nest building is ongoing at both sites. This year’s development is particularly exciting in the colony in Kuchl, State of Salzburg, where the Northern bald Ibises seemingly start to breed in the rock face of Georgenberg for the first time.
Since the beginning of this breeding colony, all birds bred in an artificial facility below the huge rock face. Last year in June, we transferred six chicks with their nests and their parent birds into a large natural niche at a height of 20 meters. The parent birds continued to take care of the young resulting in five of them fledging. Our plan was to carry out further nest transfers in 2020, hoping that the birds would gradually use the rock face for breeding independently. It turns out that this is not necessary anymore.
The nest-transfer has proven to be a further powerful translocation method. This is not only essential for the colony in Kuchl, but also for the continuation of our reintroduction project at other sites, like for example Überlingen. In addition, this method could also be essential to recolonize former breeding areas in Morocco and elsewhere.
It is a joy for us to see how well the birds manage on their own. Although, it is also clear that further management and, above all, further releases are necessary to ensure the sustainable survival of this European migratory population. This is also clearly shown by a population viability analysis carried out by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, which is currently being published.
Picture: A picture as it should be. Northern Bald Ibises in the huge rock face of Georgenberg at Kuchl, State of Salzburg. The small picture indicates the position of the niches. Picture Daniela Trobe
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