Ibis that was extinct in wild taught to migrate by following aircraft

Birds bred in captivity led on three-week migration south from Germany by human ‘foster parents’

Denise Hruby in Überlingen, Germany

Fri 20 Jul 2018 16.00 BSTLast modified on Mon 23 Jul 2018 08.19 BST

Leaning out of an ultralight aircraft, Corinna Esterer turns toward a flock of peculiar black birds soaring just a few metres away. “Come, come ibis,” she yells through her megaphone. Drawn by Esterer’s voice, the birds dart to the aircraft, and follow it to a field overlooking Lake Constance in southern Germany. Once on the ground, the ibis flock to Esterer. To the birds, the young woman is their parent.

For more than 300 years, the northern bald ibis has been extinct in the wild in central Europe, with small populations surviving only in zoos. But recently, it has celebrated a slow but steady comeback thanks to human foster parents who have shown the birds how to migrate south by leading the way in ultralight aircraft.

This year is the fifth time the team has taken young birds that hatched in captivity on a three-week migration across the Alps to their wintering grounds in Tuscany.

“It really is pioneering, the first [example] of its kind in which we have reintroduced a bird species with the help of human-led migration,” said Johannes Fritz, the head of the project. Fritz has spent most of his career trying to bring the ibis back. “Granted, they are not very beautiful, but [they are] charismatic,” he said.

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Mummy's boys: young ibises all wrapped up as presents for the gods

They might be disparaged as bin chickens now but in ancient Egypt they were revered

Saskia Mabin

Wed 14 Mar 2018 01.30 GMTLast modified on Wed 14 Mar 2018 01.39 GMT

In Australia they’re reviled as bin chickens. But in ancient Egypt, ibises were revered and offered as gifts to the gods.

Two mummified ibises have given researchers at the University of Sydney a riveting insight into their ancient appeal.

Two ibis packages have been part of the university’s Nicholson collection since 1914. They were discovered in 1913 in Abydos, Egypt, by the British-based Egyptian Exploration Society; the university had helped pay for its excavations.

The assistant curator of the Nicholson museum, Candace Richards, said: “Part of why I think this research has such resonance and fun in Australia is that ibises are called bin chickens and everybody thinks they are this kind of dirty, scavenger animal now, but in the ancient world they were this revered, respected bird that was mummified for the gods.”

The original paper documenting the excavation described an “ibis cemetery” near the Royal Tombs. About 2,500 ibises were uncovered there. Many were preserved inside 93 clay jars.

These remains are believed to date to the Roman period, making them 2,000 years old.

In ancient Egypt, the ibis was sacred to the god Thoth, the scribe of the gods. Richards said ancient Egyptians would buy mummified ibises to offer to the gods.

Richards said there were such things as “ancient fakes”, where people would be sold mummified packets containing only parts of the bird, or no bird at all.

Research based on x-rays taken before the 1990s suggested one of the mummified packets being studied contained two ibises and the other contained only a single thigh bone.

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Important new breeding sites of mythical ibis discovered

24 Nov 2017

It has had a dramatic history and was almost lost to extinction. Now this Critically Endangered bird is bouncing back with record breeding success in Morocco in 2017.

By Shaun Hurrell

As the day drew to a close, the orange light reflecting from the Atlantic seemed to soften the texture of the sun-baked Moroccan cliffs so much so they looked like they could crumble in an instant. There the birds were: perched on a couple of sloping, sandstone ledges, an entire colony of about 20 settling in for the night, low squawks and rustles heard above the scouring waves only a few metres below. Birds often nest in precarious places, and despite the cliffs in Tamri, southwest Morocco, actually being pretty strong, by knowing this species’ Critically Endangered status, you cannot help but feel a little worried for these large, iridescent-black creatures.

Throughout history, Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita has had a turbulent relationship with humans. This mythical bald bird with a punkish crest once had an extensive range that spread across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and has been idolised by humans as symbols of fertility and virtue, even mummified to accompany Ancient Egyptian royalty.

Today, almost all remaining wild birds are restricted to Morocco

Yet it has lost its feeding areas to land-use changes, its nest sites have been built on or disturbed, and it has also been poisoned by pesticides, hunted, persecuted, collected in a gold rush for museums, and a dramatic range-reduction resulted in an all-time population low at the end of the 20th century with only 59 breeding pairs remaining in 1997. Today, almost all remaining wild birds are restricted to Morocco.

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Charles Sturt Council considers ibis cull on Delfin Island at West Lakes

DAN JERVIS-BARDY

WEEKLY TIMES INNER CITY

NOVEMBER 27, 2014 5:00PM

CHARLES Sturt Council is considering culling ibises to stop them destroying vegetation and killing ducklings at West Lakes.

Residents have petitioned the council to take action against a group of about 200 ibises on Delfin Island.

Head petitioner Robert Boyd said the birds were killing ducklings, destroying plants and covering the island and homes in bird poo.

The council is consulting a species ecologist to determine the most effective way of controlling the birds.

Council chief executive Mark Withers said a selective cull of the birds was among the options.

“We are considering removing some of the trees in which the birds are nesting to reduce the area for nests and also some selective culling,” he said.

Ibis are a protected species under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.

To proceed with a cull, the council would need a destruction permit from the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.

“As we are approaching the end of the breeding season, there is not much time to wait until breeding is over and the birds are just roosting at the sites,” Mr Withers said.

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