Northern Bald Ibis
| Northern bald ibis | |
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| At Tamri, Morocco | |
Scientific classification 
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| Missing taxonomy template (fix): | Geronticus |
| Species: | Template:Taxonomy/GeronticusG. eremita
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| Binomial name | |
| Template:Taxonomy/GeronticusGeronticus eremita | |
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| Map showing location of remaining colonies in Morocco[image reference needed] | |
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The northern bald ibis, hermit ibis, or Waldrapp (Geronticus eremita) is a migratory Old World ibis found in open areas such as grasslands, rocky mountains, and semi-deserts, often close to running water. This 70–80 cm (28–31 in) glossy black ibis, which, unlike many members of the ibis family, is non-wading, has an unfeathered red face and head, and a long, curved red bill. It breeds colonially on coastal or mountain cliff ledges, where it typically lays two to three eggs in a stick nest, and feeds on lizards, insects, and other small animals.
The northern bald ibis was once widespread across the Middle East, northern Africa, southern and central Europe, with a fossil record dating back at least 1.8 million years. It disappeared from Europe over 300 years ago, although reintroduction programmes in the region are underway. In 2019 there were about 700 wild birds remaining in southern Morocco, and fewer than 10 in Syria, where it was rediscovered in 2002 but where their number declined in the following years, maybe to zero.
To combat these low numbers, reintroduction programs have been instituted internationally in recent times, with a semi-wild breeding colony in Turkey which counted almost 250 birds in 2018[3] as well as sites in Austria, Italy, Spain, and northern Morocco. These programmes and the natural growth in Morocco from about 200 birds in the 1990s helped to downlist the northern bald ibis from Critically Endangered to Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2018.[4] There are about 2000 northern bald ibises living in captivity.
The long-term decline in Europe has been linked to hunting and eating them, especially the fledglings. The slow reproduction means this can cause local extinction.[5]
Syria
Conservation efforts for the northern bald ibis in Syria began with the discovery of an unreported relict colony of this species in early 2002 in the Palmyra desert.[6] The bald ibises still breeding in Syria, discovered during an extensive biodiversity survey carried out as part of a FAO cooperation project, are the last living descendants of those depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphs from 4500 years ago. The discovery was made possible through the use of traditional ecological knowledge of the Bedouin nomads.[6]
Following the discovery in Syria, a successful community-based ibis breeding intensive protection program was established in Palmyra during years 2002–2004, in parallel with an extensive capacity building program for the local community and staff from the Syrian Steppe Commission. Fourteen chicks successfully fledged during this period.[7]
Beside protection and training operations, data on threats and on feeding and breeding ecology were collected in the field. An Ibis Protected Area was recommended and established, and an awareness and education program was also launched and successfully implemented.
Two breeding failures were recorded in 2005 and 2008 following a change of project management and of ibis protection strategy, that occurred between 2004 and 2005.[8]
Three birds were tagged with satellite tags and the migratory route and wintering site of the colony were discovered in 2006.[7] Three surveys were undertaken at the wintering site on the Ethiopian highlands between 2006 and 2009, establishing that no immediate threats were present at the site.[9]
Thanks to an IUCN project the Ibis Protected Area in Palmyra desert was further developed in 2008–2009, addressing the threats of infrastructure proliferation and oil company heavy prospection schemes.[9]
Meanwhile, it became apparent that only adults were reaching the wintering site in Ethiopia and that it was the low survival rate of immature birds - and thus an insufficient recruitment at the breeding colony in Palmyra - that was causing the slow and steady decline of the colony from 3 breeding pairs in 2002 to just 1 in 2010. Satellite tracking and surveys conducted in western Saudi Arabia during 2009–2010, with key cooperation of the Saudi Wildlife Authority, suggested that a combination of hunting and electrocution were causing a high mortality of dispersing immature ibises. This mortality is currently regarded as the main cause of the low recruitment occurred at the Palmyra colony during the years following the high breeding performance of period 2002–2004 (only 3 recruitment events out of 14 chicks fledged).[10]
A supplementation trial could be eventually conducted in 2010 by introducing captive-born chicks into the wild colony in Palmyra. For this aim, a first captive breeding center was established in Palmyra. Three chicks introduced at the wild colony in Palmyra followed a migrating wild adult for more than 1000 km from Palmyra well into southwest Saudi Arabia.[8]
The success of the trial, unique of its kind, reinvigorated the hopes that the colony could be still saved. Conservation efforts were interrupted in March 2011 due to the worsening of the political situation in Syria. Palmyra trained rangers have reportedly continued to protect the breeding birds even during the subsequent years. The last year a lone bird was seen returning to Palmyra is 2014 (it returned alone also in 2013). In 2015 no birds came back. As of 2017, some birds are still seen at the wintering grounds.[8]
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2018). "Geronticus eremita". 2018: e.T22697488A130895601. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697488A130895601.en.
|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ↑ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ↑ https://www.dogadernegi.org/en/northern-bald-ibis/ "Northern Bald Ibis" at dogadernegi.org.
- ↑ BirdLife International. "Red List: Northern Bald Ibis, Pink Pigeon making a comeback". BirdLife. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
- ↑ Hape Grünenfelder: Wiederansiedlung des Waldrapps im Schweizer Sarganserland am früheren Vorkommen in Bad Ragaz ‐ Pfäfers, January 2018 (German)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedserraabd - ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lindsell, J.; Serra, G.; et al. (2009). "Satellite Tracking Reveals the Migration Route and Wintering Area of the Middle Eastern Population of Northern Bald Ibis". Oryx. 43 (3): 329–335. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697488A130895601.en.
|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Serra, G. (2017). The Last Flight of the Ancient Guide of Hajj. Apia, Samoa: Self-published. p. 71 pp. Search this book on
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Serra, G.; et al. (2011). "Breeding range of the last eastern colony of critically endangered N. Bald Ibises Geronticus eremita in the Syria steppe: a threatened area". Bird Conservation International. 21 (3): 285–295. doi:10.1017/s095927091000064x.
- ↑ Serra, G.; et al. (2015). "Accounting for very low survival of a Critically Endangered bird on a major migratory flyway". Oryx. 49 (2): 312–320. doi:10.1017/s0030605313000665.
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