Still some hope for Eastern NBI population

From Chris Bowden, RSPB

Our trusted fieldworker in Ethiopian highlands, Yilma Abebe, with some RSPB support, managed to spend three days at the site where the relict Syrian birds mainly overwintered - and reported this week that three adult northern bald ibis! These included the female Zenobia who had previously been paired to Odeinat (who disappeared over a year ago in Saudi Arabia). Interestingly, she was accompanied by an unringed adult, so perhaps there’s a faint hope that they are indeed a pair, and might make it back to breed in Syria? There was also one other lone bird sighted in the area. We await further details of Yilma’s visit, but it’s good to know there is still a faint hope for the population.

As you may know or remember, only a single adult was seen back at the Syrian breeding site last spring, and despite the problems in the country, the field team there somehow managed to continue some field checks. Our thoughts are certainly with them and their families.



For earlier background:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/northernbaldibis/

www.iagnbi.org

Kelaynack flies south

(from BirdLife Community)

Following a successful breeding season for the semi-wild Northern Bald Ibis population at Birecik, Turkey, six of the birds were released as part of trial re-introductions work in late July. A dedicated team first caught up all the birds for the annual ringing/check of the birds at the Birecik ‘Kelaynak’ breeding station run by the Turkish Ministry of Nature Protection and National Parks, and six were selected for release in the hope that they would survive and migrate. Three were fitted with satellite transmitters, and to reduce the chance of persecution, their bright rings were replaced with much less conspicuous ones. Four of the birds were 2013 juveniles, and in addition, two one-year old birds were also released.

For the first two weeks, the birds remained very close to the breeding station, feeding at a number of local sites in the area, as well as taking supplementary food provided. This week, however, excitement mounts as five of the birds have departed south, and the intriguing news is that they have stopped off very close to Palmyra in Syria, where the remaining wild population there has this year sadly declined to just one individual.

Whether the birds will stay in the area or continue their ‘migration’ further south, we will find out from the satellite signals. The work was recommended as a priority at last year’s inaugural meeting of the AEWA International Working Group for Northern Bald Ibis, held at Jazan in Saudi Arabia and by the International Advisory Group for Northern Bald Ibis. Several partners are involved in the work in addition to the Turkish Ministry, with satellite tags provided by Doğa Derneği (BirdLife in Turkey), with Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) support.

This news is brought to you by the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme

Eastern population: Odeinat stops transmitting

Our colleague Chris Bowden reports us that, sadly, Odeinat has stopped transmitting. The team responsible of his monitoring had hoped this might have been a temporary blip, but this now seems unlikely.

Although the solar-powered satellite tag has already transmitted for slightly longer than the manufacturers expected, it is rather worrying that it was an abrupt stop. We will obviously give any updates if things change, and any further interpretation on what may have happened. We hope to get the regular Ethiopian wintering site checked early next year, but its possible there may not be much to add until then. 

Unfortunately the site where Odeinat has overwintered the past years has not been possible to reach and check.

East Population update: Odeinat back in Southern Saudi Arabia

Migration started again for the Syrian ibis, and confirming a report from the wardens in Palmyra that the birds had left the colony, Odeinat has already departed and made a very fast journey down to NE of Jazan, in Saudi Arabia, quite near to a previously favoured area.

Syria: no success for the breeding pair this year

By Chris Bowden

We have heard from the team that the breeding pair has failed to fledge any chicks this year. This is obviously a serious blow. In addition, the captive pair in Syria has also been unsuccessful, but did get rather closer to breeding than last year. We will give further details as they emerge, and will update the progress/movements of the male, Odeinat - apparently the only bird with an operational tag at the moment.

One piece of more positive news is that the semi-wild Birecik population in Turkey had a far better breeding season than usual with around 38 juveniles fledging.

Syria, no success for the breeding pair this year

We have heard from the team that the only breeding pair in Syria has failed to fledge any chicks this year. This is obviously a serious blow. In addition, the captive pair in Syria has also been unsuccessful, but did get rather closer to breeding than last year. We will give further details as they emerge, and will update the progress/movements of the male, Odeinat - apparently the only bird with an operational tag at the moment.

One piece of more positive news is that the semi-wild Bireçik population in Turkey had a far better breeding season than usual with around 38 juveniles fledging. 

(from http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/northernbaldibis/)

Four adult birds in Syria!!

Despite the fact that the country is going through a hard time, the ibis rangers in Syria told us this week that a fourth bird has just arrived back at the breeding site in Palmyra!
As our colleagues from RSPB describe in the website on the monitoring of this population,  he newly arrived bird is an unringed adult, perhaps a bird born in 2007. This could also be one of the two unringed birds seen in February at the wintering site in Ethiopia. It is not yet clear whether it is a male and if it is pairing up with the unpaired female (Salama) or not. If it was the case, we should have two breeding pairs this year. In fact, Odeinat and Zenobia have nested once again this season.
Salama satellite tag has stopped transmitting, but Odeinat's one is still working.

All three Syrian adults, back in Palmyra

Our colleagues in Syria just told us that all three adults, Odeinat, Salama and Zenobia, are safely back from migration on the Syrian breeding grounds today. Odeinat has been transmitting since a couple of weeks, but Salama hadn't since late last year, but this now seems to simply be tag failure rather than anything worse. 

Still no sign of the other two untagged birds that were seen on the Ethiopian wintering grounds, so where those birds go is becoming a source of speculation. 

Or perhaps they will appear at Palmyra one of these days.

From RSPB

News from the Eastern population

Wonderful news from the Eastern population. After the new activity recorded last February 8th, Odeinat started moving North. Since 16th, in few days crossed Bab el-Mandeb, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and arrived to Syria!!

No signal yet from Salama, which is worrying as other years she re-started transmitting before these dates.

EWNHS

Other good news came from Ethiopia. Our colleagues from the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS), our BirdLife Partner, have been checking last week the area frequented by wintering NBI. They were able to find three birds. Two of them unringed (maybe same birds as appeared unexpectedly last year by the same area, perhaps Syrian juveniles from 2007 that have yet to return to the breeding grounds) and one ringed bird, either Zenobia or Salama.

Odeinat, transmiting again!

Odeinat, one of the two Syrian ibis which is monitored by RSPB, is equiped with a satellite tag that stopped working on November 2011. It started sending information again last February 8th, from an area North to Jijiga, in Ethiopia, a place that Odeinat has been visiting before last October. On 16th he transmitted again from a nearby site.

BirdLife Species Guardians

from http://www.birdlife.org/extinction/guardians.html

Mahmoud Abdullah A Critically Endangered Northern Bald Ibis is  fitted with a satellite transmitter in Syria.  Central to the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme is the appointment of Species Guardians who take the lead in conserving a globally threatened species in their country or region. Their primary role is to take and encourage greater conservation action for their species, working with national and local governments, other concerned individuals, organisations and local communities. BirdLife will appoint and support organisations and individuals from across the world - leaders in their field willing to take on this new global challenge. In addition to undertaking conservation work themselves, the Species Guardians will also monitor the status of the species, track the implementation and effect of actions taken, and report back to BirdLife on these each year. Priority is given to the recruitment of and support to Species Guardians for globally threatened species that are Critically Endangered and are most urgently in need of conservation attention. The actions required vary from species to species, depending on the threats they face, and typically include habitat and site conservation, control of hunting and trapping, tackling invasive alien species, education and awareness-raising, building local community and government support, as well as research and monitoring.

BirdLife provides these Species Guardians with technical support, training, and the investment of funds for conservation action, based on mutually agreed Species Guardian Project Plans. BirdLife also supports the Species Guardiansthrough liaison with decision-makers and governments, and raising awareness through ensuring coverage of their conservation work by the world’s media.

BirdLife’s cutting-edge global science work ensures Species Guardians operate with objectivity and adhere to clear global priorities, and that systems are in place to measure success. BirdLife’s unique global structure, including its regional program offices and in-country Partners, will ensure that Species Guardians are never far from technical help and moral and practical support.

To download the Species Guardians information fact sheet click here (PDF 444KB) or for Spanish version click here (PDF 371KB).

To find out about the latest conservation news from Species Guardians read the Guardian action updates.

How do Aylal and Naders’ satellite tags work?

It has been mentioned in previous posts that the tags on Aylal and Nader have different levels of accuracy and this is due to the fact that two different systems are being used: Argos and GPS. Both tags use the Argos system but one tag also has a GPS transmitter.

The Argos system is named after the mythical giant with 100 eyes, who was the perfect, all-seeing guardian. This system is based on a series of six polar-orbiting satellites, i.e. which pass over both poles, at an altitude of 850 km. These satellites belong to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and other agencies will join in the future.

Each platform, i.e. the animal or object carrying the transmitter, can be reached, in theory, about 14 times per day. The position of the platform is calculated using the Doppler Effect, i.e. the variation in the wave frequency (produced by the transmitter) between two objects moving relative to each other (in our case the transmitter and the satellite).

Overlap of the areas covered by two successive passes of the Argos satellite system (http://www.argos-system.org)

With the Argos system there is a certain limit to the number of locations that can be received from each transmitter but it is ideal for following long-distance movements of birds. It is also small and light - the transmitter on Nader weighs just 9 grams (1/4 ounce).

The transmitter on Aylal also carries a GPS unit. The GPS system relies on a denser system of satellites, with 24 satellites (four in each of six different orbits), at an altitude between 10,100 and 20,200 km. Each transmission from the platform is picked up by several satellites and the position can be calculated by measuring the distance from each one. This provides an accurate, three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude and altitude). Not surprisingly, this accurate technique was originally developed for military use.

GPS satellite network, showing how the number of satellites visible from the transmitter varies according to the earth’s rotation and the orbit pattern of the satellites (from Wikipedia)

This type of transmitter was deployed on Aylal to provide us with detailed data on small-scale movement patterns of the species within its normal range. This will help us to identify any potential threats and will complement the day to day work done by the guards on the ground. The transmitter on Nader will provide us with more broad-scale data on the large-scale dispersal patterns of juveniles of this species. This is the same system which has been used to tag ibises in Syria and Turkey.

Funds for these two tags were donated by Dublin Zoo (Aylal) and RSPB (Nader) and installation costs were covered by a collaborative project with Prince Albert II of Monaco Fundation. An expert from MMARM led the tagging operation and provided advice on the capture and taggingprocedures.

The fundraising campaign for the conservation of the bald-headedibis aims to raise money to buy more transmitters such as these, to tag moreindividuals. The data provided from these tags greatly increases our knowledgeof species movements and habitat use and allows us to identify potentialthreats.  

Some cartoons

Environmental education is crucial to approach local populations and raise awareness for conservation.

In 2001 one Peace Corps' volunteer, Carolyn LaFontaine, and a British illustrator, Alasdair Bright, created a small trilingual book on a young ibis taht wanted to play with children. It used a soccer as a link to attrack the interest of children towards this species that shares the habitat with them.


Orrie spying children while they play soccer (Alasdair Bright)

  

 


 Souss-Massa cliffs, after Alasdair Bright watercolors



This book inspired another cartoon, this time in Syria. Alasdair added some drawings and the story was adapted to the local context.



Beaky's cover. Click to download pdf from original site.

Turkish birds donated to Syria colony

In late 2009 the IAGNBI members celebrate a meeting in Palmyra, Syria, in order to explain the activities and results for every population of NBI and also to go forward in the conservation of the species.

One very special result of this meeting was the announcement of the initiative of transfering two ibis from the Bireçik colony to join the Syrian group.

Amina (female) and Ishtar (male) were 2010 youngsters from Bireçik, Turkey which were released in Syria after a brief settling period. This is the first time such a release had been tried and they successfully migrated to Southern Saudi Arabia guided by Salama and accompaigned by Ameer.

Ameer hatched in the wild in 2010 in Syria and is the offspring of Odeinat and untagged Zenobia - who sadly died after being found in a very weak condition two weeks after leaving Syria in southern Saudi Arabia.

After the hardest part of the migration flying through Arabian desert, the three young birds stopped transmitting and it appears they didn't survive. Anyway, the result of this experience was extremely positive because it was the first time to prove that young birds could migrate with a stranger to the South and opens a new area of conservation biology on NBI.

RSPB webpage on NBI

If you want to see NBI migration route from Syria, have a look to http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/northernbaldibis/