Hopeful start for a new season
Newsletter 26/03/2021
Almost exactly one year ago, we had to decide to cancel the hand-raising due to the lockdown. The perspectives were too uncertain. This was certainly the right decision. Today, one year later, the general conditions regarding the infection numbers are unfortunately worse. Nevertheless, this year we decided to carry out the hand-raising and human-guided migration.
We took this decision because now it is easier to plan: After one year of the pandemic, it is easier to assess what to expect and what is possible and what is not. Apart from that, we also simply need positive perspectives and want to communicate these to all friends and partners of our project - also in this period there is reason for hope.
On April 8th, we will take the first chicks from Rosegg Zoo to raise them in Schönbrunn Zoo. The two foster mothers Helena Wehner and Katharina Huchler are already intensively preparing. They are supported by the camp manager Veronika Boschitz, who is new to our project. For the hand-raising, we will again be guests at the Schönbrunn Zoo. Visitors can watch the hand-raising in the visitors' area, as long as the zoo is open.
At the beginning of May, we will move with the birds to a new training ground at the Binningen airfield in the municipality of Hilzingen on Lake Constance. From June we will train the young birds there, and in August we will lead them to Tuscany and release them into the wild. They will expand the newly established breeding colony in Überlingen on the Lake Constance. If at that time travel restrictions prevent this transfer, we will set up the training camp in the province of Salzburg.
And speaking of Überlingen, last year, for the first time, 16 birds returned to the Lake Constance from the wintering area. Unfortunately, due to the lockdown, it was not possible to organize the necessary conditions for a first breeding. But in 2021 the time will come, the breeding aviary is ready and Anne-Gabriela Schmalstieg, who manages the Überlingen colony, expects the first birds to arrive in the next few days. We would like to thank the Kessler family from Hödingen and other helpers for their support!
We are also preparing our exhibition at the State Garden Show in Überlingen, which is scheduled to open on April 9th. Due to travel restrictions, the preparations have to be carried out by a regional team. We are pleased that very motivated people have been found for this task. It is still unclear which offers we will be able to provide for the visitors of the State Garden Show. A temporary presence of an information person on site is planned, as well as guided tours to the breeding site of the Northern Bald Ibis. But for the moment this will not be possible due to rising infection numbers.
Already on March 19th, the first ibises migrated across the Alps back to their breeding sites Burghausen and Kuchl. The bad weather has temporarily slowed down the migration, but in the next few days an improvement of the conditions is announced and thus the spring migration should finally get going. As always, you can follow the flight of the birds on the App Animal Tracker, from where you can observe the route of nearly 150 ibises.
The outcome of the past year can be consulted in the annual report, which can be downloaded here. Despite all the restrictions, the population increased from 142 to 157 individuals. It is particularly pleasing that the two colonies Burghausen and Kuchl have grown without any management.
Picture: The season begins, in Tuscany the Northern Bald Ibises take off towards the north. Photo Markus Unsöld.