Flying conservationists teach endangered birds to migrate

Raising a flock of bald ibises is hard work. For the past six months, biologists Barbara Steininger and Helena Wehner have been hand-feeding and rearing dozens of endangered chicks every day. During that time, they could not shift their parenting duties to others. Only young birds needed to be imprinted on them.

Steininger and Wehner then took to the skies to lead the young chargers on the birds’ first migration. In mid-August, they boarded an ultralight plane. Rosegg (Austria)a journey of approximately 2,800 kilometers began and ended on October 3 at the wintering ground in Andalusia, Spain. There, the two foster parents said their final goodbyes to the birds they helped raise.

“Eventually you have to release them into their wintering grounds and accept that they are independent and don’t need you anymore,” says Scott, who led a team reintroducing bald ibises into the wild in Europe and has worked to date. says Johannes Fritz, who has been active in the field. Since 2004, he has been flying ultralight aircraft in these guided migrations.

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Migration of bald ibis

As the days get shorter and temperatures drop each fall, the ibis’ migratory instinct kicks in, seeking warmer weather to spend the winter. Parents usually guide their children on their first migration and show them the route. However, much of our knowledge of the birds’ flight paths has been lost. That’s because the species has been hunted to near extinction in its native habitat of North Africa, Central Europe, and the Middle East. The species was a problem in Europe in 1504, when the Archbishop of Salzburg declared it illegal to shoot the bird. Despite this ban and other early conservation efforts, the northern bald ibis was last seen in the wild in Europe in 1621, and only a few survive, primarily in Morocco.

Thanks to careful management and reintroduction efforts, small sedentary (non-migratory) populations now exist in the wild in Turkié and Spain. However, their inability to migrate may actually threaten their survival. Migratory birds have evolved to breed in one climate and spend the winter in another. Ana González Prieto, an avian ecologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service who is not involved in the reintroduction effort, said splitting time between the two habitats allows for better access to food. He explains that the breeding success rate may be higher.

To achieve maximum success in the wild, bald ibis populations need to migrate, Fritz said. So his team took on the responsibility of teaching the baby birds the route. They initially drew inspiration from the 1996 film. fly home, In this film, a girl and her father use an ultralight airplane to help move a flock of geese. The film is based on the work of the late sculptor and filmmaker Bill Lishman, who used such planes to teach captive-raised birds to migrate. Mr. Lishman co-founded Operation Migration. The organization dispatches scientists in bird costumes to guide endangered birds, such as the once-nearly extinct whooping crane, on migratory routes across North America.

Let’s fly home with the bald ibis

This method, called human-driven migration, is resource- and time-intensive, but it seems to be working well for the bald ibises. The process begins in the spring, when chicks taken from captive populations are raised by hand-raised foster parents. Then, at the end of summer, the conservation team sets out on the route. A microplane powered by a propeller and kept aloft by a large yellow parachute takes off and rises hundreds of meters above the ground. It flies at the speed of a bird and does not exceed 50 kilometers per hour. This flying device seats two people. Fritz has obtained his pilot’s license for this very purpose, and the other is exchanging air missions.

As the plane took off, the foster mother called for the birds to follow in German, shouting:com, Comb!Through a megaphone over the engine’s drone. When flying, the birds sometimes fly close to the plane, move their beaks up and down, and make cries to welcome foster parents. After their foster parents greet them back, they take their positions in formation.

“It’s very emotional,” Fritz says. “As a pilot, I have the privilege of experiencing this in the air.”

After flying for 4 or 5 hours, it will land on the ground again. At least a dozen other crew members would have driven ahead to set up a temporary aviary for the birds and a tent camp for team members. The next day they do it again.

This year, Fritz’s team rescued 36 birds, the largest group of juvenile northern bald ibises ever. But just like human young, birds don’t always cooperate. Fritz says the trip was “a little stressful at times because the birds wouldn’t follow me.” Birds sometimes stayed on the ground when planes took off. “The adoptive mother is calling the bird.” [as] “We are circling in the distance, but they remain on the airfield,” says Fritz.

Fritz said these changes in a bird’s “motivation state” are difficult but normal. If the plane made enough turns and returned, the birds would eventually follow. Temporary separation from foster care is “a form of social punishment,” he says. “Once they follow suit, they get paid just to make contact with their foster parents.”

All 36 birds arrived in Andalusia earlier this month, but only 10 were able to fly the entire journey on their own. The remaining 26 people were transported on the final leg of the journey. They will join existing groups of reintroduced bald ibises and spend their first mild winter in the wild. Once the days start getting longer again, we hope they will return to the Alps on their own to breed. Most birds are equipped with solar-powered GPS tags, allowing conservationists to monitor and manage wild populations.

reach a sustainable population

At the beginning of the program, no birds returned to the Alps from their initial wintering grounds in Tuscany, Italy. Then, in July 2011, the first birds returned. In the four generations since then, the number of wild migratory birds has increased to 256 birds. Reproductive success is relatively high, with about three chicks hatching per nest, whereas sedentary populations in Andalusia produce an average of only about one chick per nest.

Until the population reaches sustainable levels, researchers will need to continue hand-rearing and coaxing more chicks on their first migration. According to a study published in 2023, the population almost independent— or can thrive without human intervention — but we haven’t crossed that threshold yet. The program is currently partially funded through the European Union until 2028.

The original human-led migration organization, Operation Migration, flew whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida from 2001 to 2015. Although the migratory bird population has recovered, it has not been able to reproduce well enough to reach a self-sustaining population. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ultimately withdrew support from the project.

Both the whooping crane and bald ibis programs are experimental and invasive. And they are attracting the attention of the public. “There was a lot of skepticism early on in the project,” Fritz said. “On the one hand, I think the scientific community and conservationists recognize the potential of this method.”

“The main strength of these projects is that they provide positive conservation outcomes, as evidenced by increases in wild populations,” González Prieto said. “These studies also encourage action to protect other declining wild-breeding populations before they become endangered.” Because it demonstrates how resource-intensive it is to get it back.

As climate change continues to change how birds migrate and where they winter, methods like these could become increasingly important. Fritz’s team originally flew birds across the Alps to Tuscany, but climate change means reintroduced birds are leaving their summer homes later each year, now in the fall rather than late summer. I’m waiting until

“These birds are delaying their migration until early November when the heat hits. [air currents] It is too weak to support the journey across the Alps,” says González Prieto. “As a result, the birds become trapped in unsuitable habitat in the valley.”

Last year, Fritz’s team started flying birds to Spain instead of Italy, which doesn’t require crossing the Alps. As these environmental changes continue, humans may need to intervene increasingly to ensure species continue to migrate. “These changes in the era of climate change are happening too quickly for species to cope with,” he says.

“It is clear that humans are responsible for the extinction of the bald ibis,” he added. “I think it’s worth doing whatever we can” to help them.