Monday 25 February 2013
Saturday 23 February 2013
Wednesday 30 January 2013
Wednesday 18 April 2012
Ibis Chicks - A Happy Story :-) As told by Slavka
For the first time in 300 years ^^, a batch of Nortern Bald Ibis chicks struggled out of their eggs and on to European soil.
The first face they saw was not that of their mother, but an Austrian biologist with a Love for Flying.
The critically endangered species lived in Europe for 1.8 mill years before it was wiped out by hunters, but it has now been reintroduced in three locations by Dr Johannes Fritz, a bird lover who showed them the way using a microlight :-).
Dr Fritz used a technique known as imprinting to build a bond with the birds, making sure he was the first thing the rare Ibis chicks saw when they hatched.
After having gained their trust, he then persuaded the birds to follow him in his aircraft between their feeding grounds in Tuscany and the Austrian and German Alps.
He said: "We now have the birds established in three mountain locations. A great success - but we are counting the days now until the first birds return after running the gauntlet of hunters."
Last year German student Stefanie Heese, 25 and Austrian student Daniela Trobe, 29, took six months off from university to act as parents to the latest new arrivals.
From first light until sundown the two were in hand to cater to the baby birds every need - from feeding them as chicks through to grooming them and then later teaching them how to survive in the wild.
Educational games such as hunting worms together were designed to expand the birds' interest in the world around them, training them in how to find food on their own.
And in the final six weeks, the birds' education ended in flight training.
Every day the two students would lead the birds to a microlight plane and would then practice flying and gliding over the Austrian Alps in Salzburg, in preparation for the long migratory flight to Tuscany.
Finally, last October the pair accompaied their 16 charges as they made the 841 -mile journey to their feeding ground in Italy!!
The first face they saw was not that of their mother, but an Austrian biologist with a Love for Flying.
The critically endangered species lived in Europe for 1.8 mill years before it was wiped out by hunters, but it has now been reintroduced in three locations by Dr Johannes Fritz, a bird lover who showed them the way using a microlight :-).
Dr Fritz used a technique known as imprinting to build a bond with the birds, making sure he was the first thing the rare Ibis chicks saw when they hatched.
After having gained their trust, he then persuaded the birds to follow him in his aircraft between their feeding grounds in Tuscany and the Austrian and German Alps.
He said: "We now have the birds established in three mountain locations. A great success - but we are counting the days now until the first birds return after running the gauntlet of hunters."
Last year German student Stefanie Heese, 25 and Austrian student Daniela Trobe, 29, took six months off from university to act as parents to the latest new arrivals.
From first light until sundown the two were in hand to cater to the baby birds every need - from feeding them as chicks through to grooming them and then later teaching them how to survive in the wild.
Educational games such as hunting worms together were designed to expand the birds' interest in the world around them, training them in how to find food on their own.
And in the final six weeks, the birds' education ended in flight training.
Every day the two students would lead the birds to a microlight plane and would then practice flying and gliding over the Austrian Alps in Salzburg, in preparation for the long migratory flight to Tuscany.
Finally, last October the pair accompaied their 16 charges as they made the 841 -mile journey to their feeding ground in Italy!!
Tuesday 13 March 2012
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