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Associated Press

How do you teach a bird how, and where, to fly?
The distinctive northern bald ibis, hunted essentially to extinction by the 17th century, was revived by breeding and rewilding efforts over the last two decades.
But the birds – known for their distinctive black-and-iridescent green plumage, bald red head and long curved beak – do not instinctively know which direction to fly to migrate without the guidance of wild-born elders. So a team of scientists and conservationists stepped in as foster parents and flight instructors.
“We have to teach them the migration route,” said biologist Johannes Fritz.

The northern bald ibis once soared over North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and much of Europe, including Bavaria in southern Germany.
The migratory birds were also considered a delicacy, and the bird, known as the Waldrapp in German, disappeared from Europe, though a few colonies elsewhere survived.
The efforts of Fritz and the Waldrappteam, a conservation and research group based in Austria, have brought the Central European population from zero to almost 300 since the start of their project in 2002.
The feat moved the species from a “critically endangered” classification to “endangered” and, Fritz says, is the first attempt to reintroduce a continentally extinct migratory bird species.
But while northern bald ibises still display the natural urge to migrate, they do not know which direction to fly without the guidance of wild-born elders.

The Waldrappteam’s early reintroduction attempts were largely unsuccessful because, without teaching the birds the migration route, most disappeared soon after release.
Instead of returning to suitable wintering grounds such as Tuscany, Italy, they flew in different directions and ultimately died.
So the Waldrappteam stepped in as foster parents and flight instructors for the Central European population, which was made up of descendants from multiple zoo colonies and released into the wild in the hopes of creating a migratory group.
This year marks the 17th journey with human-led migration guides, and the second time they have been forced to pilot a new route to Spain because of climate change.
To prepare them for travel, the chicks are removed from their breeding colonies when they are just a few days old.

They are taken to an aviary that is overseen by the foster parents in the hopes of “imprinting” – when the birds will bond with those humans to ultimately trust them along the migration route.
Barbara Steininger, a Waldrapp team foster mother, said she acts like “their bird mum”.
“We feed them, we clean them, we clean their nests. We take good care of them and see that they are healthy birds,” she said. “But also we interact with them.”
Steininger and the other foster parents then sit on the back of a microlight aircraft, waving and shouting encouragement through a loudhailer as it flies through the air.
It is a bizarre scene: the aircraft looks like a flying go-kart with a giant fan on the back and a yellow parachute keeping it aloft. Still, three dozen birds follow the contraption, piloted by Fritz, as it sails over alpine meadows and foothills.

Fritz was inspired by “Father Goose” Bill Lishman, a naturalist who taught Canadian geese to fly alongside his ultralight plane beginning in 1988.
He later guided endangered whooping cranes through safe routes and founded the non-profit “Operation Migration”.
Lishman’s work prompted the 1996 movie Fly Away Home but features a young girl as the geese’s “mother”.
Like Lishman, Fritz and his team’s efforts have worked. The first bird independently migrated back to Bavaria in 2011 from Tuscany.

More have flown the route that is upwards of 550 kilometres (340 miles) each year, and the team hopes the Central European population will be more than 350 birds by 2028 and become self-sustaining.
But the effects of climate change mean the birds are migrating later in the season now, which forces them to cross the Alps in colder, more dangerous weather – without the aid of warm currents of air, known as thermals, that rise upwards and help the birds soar without expending extra energy.
In response, the Waldrappteam piloted a new route in 2023, from Bavaria to Andalusia in southern Spain.
This year, the route is roughly 2,800 kilometres – some 300 kilometres longer than last year’s path. Earlier this month from an airfield in Paterzell, in upper Bavaria, the team guided 36 birds along one stage through bright blue skies and a tailwind that increased their speed.
The entire journey to Spain could take up to 50 days and end in early October. But Fritz says the effort is bigger than just the northern bald ibises: it is about paving the way for other threatened migratory species to fly.


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Conservation

With loudhailers aboard microlight aircraft, human ‘parents’ guide birds’ winter migration

A northern bald ibis in flight from Austria to Italy in 2022. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

Conservationists flying a microlight aircraft and shouting instructions through a loudhailer guide a flock of endangered northern bald ibises on their migration from Austria to Italy. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

Northern bald ibises, guided by conservationists using a loudhailer aboard their microlight aircraft, migrate from Austria to Italy. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

Guided by their human foster parents, northern bald ibises fly over Austria en route to Italy in 2022. In 2023 conservationists charted a new migration route to southern Spain. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

Northern bald ibises in flight on their migration from Austria to Italy in 2022. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

The northern bald ibises are raised by their human foster parents soon after they hatch. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

Northern bald ibises follow their human foster parents flying in a microlight aircraft. Photo: Waldrappteam Conservation & Research via AP

So you are left-handed? Your pet could be too;  most animals favour one limb over others

Around 1 in 10 people are left-handed. But what about cats, dogs or even octopuses? Photo: Shutterstock Images

Around 1 in 10 people around the world are left-handed. But what about cats, dogs, monkeys or even octopuses? Researchers now believe most animals have limb preferences. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Many animals exhibit a dominant side, or in the case of the octopus, a favoured tentacle. Photo: Shutterstock Images

“Limb preferences are the rule and not the exception in the animal kingdom”, says biopsychologist Sebastian Ocklenburg, whose study looked at claw preferences in parrots as well as other animals. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Do you know if your cat is right- or left-pawed? Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Hong Kong’s nocturnal wildlife on view in a Kadoorie Farm night walk

A bicoloured stream snake, one of the species spotted on a night walk at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Photo: Mabel Lui

The Asian common toad is the most widespread amphibian species in Hong Kong, and can be seen on a Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden night walk. Photo: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

KFBG’s night walk begins with an introduction to the nocturnal animals in its conservation area. Photo: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

Gary Ades, head of KFBG’s fauna conservation department, came up with the idea for the night safari – predecessor of the night walk – in the early 2000s. Photo: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

Yang Jianhuan, KFBG conservation manager, takes visitors on night walks to see the nocturnal wildlife in its conservation area. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A vibrant green cascade frog at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Photo: Mabel Lui

Bamboo snakes are among the reptiles which can be spotted on KFBG’s night walks. Photo: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

Manis the leopard cat lives in an enclosure at the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden because it was born in a zoo. Nine wild leopard cats have been counted in the KFBG conservation area. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A Hong Kong newt, one of the amphibians that can be seen during KFBG’s night walk. Photo: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

How Hong Kong’s Mai Po wetlands are under threat again, and past battles the ‘bird paradise’ has faced

Avocets in flight over Mai Po, Hong Kong, in March 2018. Photo: Martin Williams

Avocets in flight over Mai Po in March 2018.  Hong Kong’s Mai Po wetlands complex, a key staging post for migratory birds, is once again under threat of development. Photo: Martin Williams

Fish ponds in Fung Lok Wai, with Tin Shui Wai to the west and Shenzhen across Deep Bay. Photo: Martin Williams

Fish ponds in San Tin. The government plans to destroy a substantial area of the fish ponds to construct part of the San Tin Technopole. Photo: Martin Williams

Cormorants fly over Shenzhen, seen from the Fung Lok Wai fish ponds. Photo: Martin Williams

A black-winged stilt seen from the San Tin fish ponds. Photo: Martin Williams

Shrimp farmers fish in Mai Po in 1989, when some rights to ponds were still owned by shrimp farmers. Photo: Martin Williams

Black-faced spoonbills fly above Mai Po. Photo: Martin Williams

Great cormorants and cattle egrets on electrical wires at San Tin. Photo: Martin Williams

Fake mangroves inside the Hong Kong Wetland Park. Photo: Martin Williams

The Hong Kong Wetland Park visitor centre, in Tin Shui Wai. Photo: Martin Williams

A pied kingfisher in flight over the San Tin fish ponds. Photo: Martin Williams

Avocets in Mai Po. Photo: Martin Williams

Yu Yat-tung (left), director of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, is filmed as he explains threats to the wetland area and conservation value. Photo: Martin Williams

A black-faced spoonbill in Mai Po in 2018. Photo: Martin Williams

Black-faced spoonbills could be removed from endangered animals list in 2 years: Hong Kong environmental group

The global population of black-faced spoonbills has reached an all-time high of more than 6,000 for the first time. Photo: May Tse

Black-faced spoonbills play an important role in Hong Kong’s conservation efforts. Photo: May Tse

From fishing and ivory bans to wetlands conservation, WWF-Hong Kong marks 40 years of progress as it faces a new threat – climate change

WWF-HK Chairman Dan Bradshaw and WWF-HK CEO Nicole Wong photographed at Mai Po Nature Reserve in New Territory, Hong Kong.

19JAN22 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Nicole Wong and Dan Bradshaw of WWF-Hong Kong look out over Deep Bay from a birdwatching hide at the  Mai Po nature reserve in the city’s New Territories. WWF-Hong Kong is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Photo: SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, speaks at the inauguration of WWF-Hong Kong in 1981. Photo: courtesy of WWF-HK

WWF-Hong Kong chairman Dan Bradshaw (left) and Nicole Wong, chief executive of the WWF-Hong Kong, at Mai Po nature reserve in the New Territories. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

A robin at Mai Po nature reserve in the New Territories. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Birdwatchers keep their eyes on the sky in the Mai Po Marshes and Nature Reserve during the Big Bird Race in 1988, one of many annual events WWF-Hong Kong organises. Photo: SCMP

After years of campaigning by the WWF-Hong Kong, the sale of elephant ivory was officially banned in Hong Kong, in 2021. Photo: Dickson Lee

In 1985, WWF-Hong Kong launched its Mai Po schools programmes, laying the foundation for sustainable education. Photo: courtesy of WWF-HK

WWF-Hong Kong campaigned for a ban on trawling in Hong Kong waters, which came into effect on January 1, 2013. Photo: Edward Wong

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Northern bald ibises went extinct in Central Europe. Conservationists reintroduced them but soon realised they needed guiding when migrating


Looking like a flying go-kart with a giant fan on the back, a microlight aircraft carries conservationists as they guide northern bald ibises on their winter migration from Austria to warmer climes.


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