AEWA NBI WG on AEWA site

An article on the first meeting of the AEWA Northern Bald Ibis International Working Group is available on AEWA's website

1st meeting of the AEWA NBI International Working Group

The first meeting of the AEWA Northern Bald Ibis International Working Group will take place at the Jazan University in Jazan, Saudi Arabia on Monday the 19th to Thursday the 22nd of November 2012 at the kind invitation of the Saudi Wildlife Authority and Jazan University.

After convening the Working Group in 2011 as foreseen in the AEWA International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Northern Bald Ibis, a first face to face meeting with the appointed representatives from all the seven range states as well as other international experts will take place.

Following the Terms of Reference for the Working Group, the meeting will focus on setting up and agreeing on Working Group functions (electing a Chair country, confirming observers to the Working Group and discussing budgetary issues) and identifying international priority measures for the Northern Bald Ibis on the basis of the AEWA International Single Species Action Plan.

Since its adoption in 2005 the plan has become largely outdated and this meeting presents an excellent opportunity to launch its revision process.

Different conservation actions resulting from the identified priority measures will also be discussed.

Aylal, again at Tamri

Aylal, which was based in the Douira area since April, has been making trips eastwards, sometimes up to 18 kilometres inland. Occasionally there was also a shift to the south to the Souss-Massa National Park limits.

On October 19th, however, in the morning, it moved northwards, stopping at Cape Ghir and finishing at Tamri area, where it has been spending last days.

Aylal carries a GPS satellite tag, donatedby Dublin zoosince July 2010. This equipment allows us to know where it moves with a greatdetail.

US Fish and Wildlife Service supports NBI

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded Northern Bald Ibis conservation project with US$24,821 through its Wildlife Without Borders programme.

This is one of only twelve selected for funding, out of one hundred proposals received.

Those funds will be used to improve knowledge about movements of NBI as well as for improving breeding habitat and roosts, as well as trying to attrack birds to deserted colonies.

Another recent contribution from the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund will also help to improve knowledge about the movements of the species.

Northern Bald Ibis in Ancient Egypt

In 1989, Gunter Dreyer discovered in a tomb at Abydos, 300 miles south of Cairo, ivory or bone tablets some 5,400 years old, that reveal one of the oldest known stage of the hieroglyphic writing. Those small plates, about three centimeters squared, were probably used as labels to show the origin and content of boxes and containers. Among more than 200 pieces, one represents, apparently, a Northern Bald Ibis.

Akh, about -3400

Since then, a crested ibis has represented the hieroglyph Akh, having probably an phonetic correlation between the bird and the concept.

Representing Akh besides a solar disk is very common  

The Akh is one of the five constituents of the human personality which becomes eternal and unchanged in the Death Realm. Akh also means "to be resplendent, to shine", wich could be related to the glossy Northern Bald Ibis feathers.

Another Akh in a sunk-relief 

The coloured versions of the Akh seem to diverge from the natural colour pattern. This is probably due to the fact of a progressive decline of Northern Bald Ibis. The material and pictorial evidence dealing with the northern bald ibis is much more accurate, precise, and elaborate in the early periods of Egyptian history (until the end of the 3rd millennium BC) while, in later times, the representations become more and more schematized, showing probably that the artists were no familiar to the bird in the late phase because ok the extinction of the species in Egypt.

More information about Northern Bald Ibis in Egypt is available on this interesting work by Jiří Janák.

Untagged NBI in Spain

As a result of the recent sight of an untagged NBI in Manchester (UK) it's worth to remember other non-ringed birds that have been spotted in the last decade. On  http://rarebirdspain.net there's information on those records in Spain. 
Sightings of NBI in Spain are extremely rare during 20th century. The only known observation of this species was in Doñana, Southern Spain, in 1958. Nevertheless in 2004 one specimen was observed in very good condition in La Aldehuela (more than 1000 m osl), Ávila (Central Spain) between December 17th and 22th.  Apparently, the bird was there since one month before.

Northern bald ibis in Ávila (M. Rouco)

Observations stopped when temperatures became rougher.

Another image of the same animal  (M.Rouco)

During the same month another individual was seen in Extremadura. In this case, it was a young bird observed between December 1st and 6th and again, between March 24rd and 27th, 2005, near  Trujillo, Cáceres. 

Young NBI in Cáceres, on the ruins of  de Santo Domingo church (J. Briz)

This bird was still seen through a total of ten months  (Prieta, J. y Mayordomo, S. 2011. Aves de Extremadura. Vol. 4. Anuario 2004-2008. SEO-Cáceres. Plasencia), though its fitness was slowly deteriorated at the end of September, 2005.

The potential arrival of Moroccan birds is very unlikely, given the distance and the lack of observations in the last decades. Apparently, both birds came from any private owned zoological park having its birds untagged and whose facilities are inadequate to keep birds safe and secure. 

More recently, a SEO/BirdLife's team spotted another untagged NBI in southern Spain. In this case was, again, one young bird. Different sightings belonging, probably, to the same bird occured between February and May 2012, in the area of the Campiñas of Eastern Seville. This location is not far from the place were "proyecto Eremita" are been released and where they nest. It this case, we cannot rule out that any wild-born bird from released individuals has escaped to the compulsory tagging.

Northern Bald Ibis in UK?

Last summer an adult Northern Bald Ibis has been spotted in Greater Manchester.
"Dozens of birdwatchers have flocked to catch a glimpse of the Northern bald ibis seen around the Ken Ward sports centre in Hattersley, Tameside", says the article in the Manchester Evening News.

NBI in Manchester (photo Manchester Evening News)

Although the bird it's probably an escapee, there wasn't, apparently, any ring or tag on the bird.
If anyone can provide more information about this bird, please, come into touch with us.
Other recent observations of NBI in UK have been recorded at birdguides.com and are also presumed escapees:

	15:50 05/07/12			Manc'r		Hattersley
	15:15 26/05/12			Staffs		Rudyard Reservoir
	17:07 11/09/11			Cheshire		Sandbach Flashes
	09:16 30/10/02			Lancs		Blackpool
	21:29 29/10/02			Lancs		Blackpool
	11:18 22/03/01			Lancs		Blackpool

Some untagged birds have also been recorded in Spain.

NBI among the 100 most endangered species in the World

IUCN and the Zoological Society of London  have just published a book, Priceless or Worthless?, including the 100 most threatened species, both flora and fauna.

Northern Bald Ibis is among the ten birds included in this book.

In addition to that, other sections in the book include recent extinctions as well as speies that, thanks to conservation efforts, have improved their conservation status.   This book can be read or downloaded  on-line.

You can pull Northern Bald Ibis back from the brink contributing to NBI conservation project.

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund supports NBI conservation in Morocco

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund has granted SEO/BirdLife with US$5,000 in order to mark some NBI with GPS tags.

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is a significant philanthropic endowment established to do the following:

1- Provide targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives
2- Recognize leaders in the field of species conservation; and
3- Elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate 

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.