NBI data on 2011 breeding season

En español

Breeding activity of the NBI during 2011 in the Souss-Massa-Tamri area was very good,  following on from similar results in 2010. Breeding success (1.3 fledgling/nest) was the same as during the previous year.
The survival of chicks in the Souss-Massa National Park was 82%, which is much higher than in the unprotected area of Tamri, where it's only 43%. This may be due to differences in the quality of the feeding sites and perhaps also to disturbance in Tamri, although the final ratio of fledglings/nest is similar (1.4 in SMNP; 1.2 in Tamri).

Evolution of breeding pairs numbers in Souss-Massa-Tamri area

The breeding population remains stable and no new sites have been colonised. Nevertheless, the potential for expansion is very important. 

Group of adults and youngsters, July 2011

The total number of ibis, before and after the breeding season, based on regular counts, are shown in the graph below.

Evolution of pre and postnuptial numbers

The 2011 breeding repport  shows that 110 pairs were formed from the 251 individuals counted before breeding. Taking into account the 138 fledglings, we can see that a large number of additional birds were counted after the breeding season. This suggests that there are many more birds spread throughout the region,  which is where satellite tagging can play an important role, by helping to identify previously unknown sites that could be important for the conservation of northern bald ibis .

The breeding repport is available in French.

Dublin Zoo funds satellite tag for NBI

Dublin Zoo helps fund a number of in situ conservation programmes. While maintaining breeding populations in zoos is beneficial, it is of paramount importance that wild populations and their habitats be understood and conserved.

The Northern bald ibis is one of the most endangered birds in the world. The Souss-Massa National Park in Morocco and surrounding area is vitally important for this species survival as the entire population breed within this area. The main threat to this species is the increase in leisure tourism and the subsequent disturbance to Waldrapp ibis nesting sites and feeding areas.

A National Species Action Plan was drawn up and one of the priorities was the satellite tagging and colour ringing of some birds to discover more on this species’ seasonal movements and area use outside of the national park.

In 2010, Dublin Zoo provided funding for satellite tagging, but the capture of an adequate bird should be done just after breeding. Thus, in July 2011, one adult bird, named Aylal, was equipped with a GPS tag that allows to know accurately where's the bird, thus permiting to identify key sites or potential threats.

First chicks

During April, Northern Bald Ibis eggs hatched on Moroccan colonies.

As ibises don't lay at the same time, chicks could also have very different ages. In fact, besides big chicks there could be also unhatched eggs, as seen in the next picture.

Ibis lay, in general, three eggs that hatch after 24-25 days. During the 40 to 50 days that last the development to fledging, is not unusual that some chicks dye, thus it's normal that just one or two of the chicks fly per nest. In fact, average breeding success last year was 1,3.