The Northern Bald
Ibis, Hermit Ibis, or
Waldrapp
This odd looking, even ugly bird caught our eye as the
weirdest thing we have ever see in the bird world. The Northern Bald
Ibis, Hermit Ibis,
or Waldrapp (Geronticus
eremita) is a migratory bird found in barren,
semi-desert or rocky habitats, often close to running water. This twenty eight
to thirty one inch glossy black ibis, which, unlike other members of the ibis family, is
non-wading, has an unfeathered red face and head, and a long, curved red bill.
It breeds colonially on coastal or mountain cliff ledges, where it typically
lays two to three eggs in a stick nest and feeds on lizards, insects and other
small animals.
The Northern Bald Ibis was once widespread across the
Middle
East, northern
Africa, southern and central
Europe, with a fossil record dating
back at least 1.8 million years. It disappeared from Europe over 300 years ago,
and is now considered critically
endangered. There are believed to be
about five hundred wild birds remaining in southern Morocco, and fewer than ten
in Syria, where it was
rediscovered in 2002. To combat this ebb in numbers, recent reintroduction programs
have been instituted internationally, with a semi-wild breeding colony in
Turkey, as well as sites in
Austria, Spain, and northern
Morocco. The bird is on the critically endangered list,
the reasons for the
species' long-term decline are unclear, but hunting, loss of foraging habitat
and pesticide poisoning have been implicated in the rapid loss of colonies in
recent decades.
When they close their eyes
they look even weirder
Zoo populations: There are about eight hundred and fifty Northern Bald
Ibises in European zoos and a further two hundred and fifty in captivity in
Japan and North America. The forty nine European zoos keeping this species
produce eighty to a hundred young birds per year, and earlier attempts at
releasing captive-bred birds included close to one hundred and fifty birds
between 1976-86 from an aviary at Birecik, seventy five from Tel
Aviv Zoo in 1983, and an unspecified number from a
project in Almería, Spain, from 1991
to 1994; all these attempts were unsuccessful. All Northern Bald Ibises in zoos,
other than those in Turkey, are of the western population, and were imported
from Morocco. Three bloodlines exist; the earliest relates to importations to Zoo
Basel, Switzerland in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the next
is the descendants of birds taken in the 1970’s to stock Rabat
Zoo, and the last captured wild birds were those taken to the Naturzoo, Rheine, in 1976 and 1978.
Captive birds have a high incidence of skin problems, and 40% of those birds
that had to be put down suffered from chronic ulcerative dermatitis, characterised
by feather loss, rawness, and ulceration on the back, neck, and the undersides
of the wings. The cause of this disease is unknown. Other major disease problems
reported in zoo collections have been avian tuberculosis, gastric
foreign bodies, bone disease, and heart problems. An outbreak of West Nile
virus in Bronx
Park, New York, involved Northern Bald Ibises amongst
many other species of birds and mammals.
 
Europe: In 1504, a decree by Archbishop
Leonhard of Salzburg made the
Northern Bald Ibis one of the worlds earliest officially protected species.
Despite the decree, it died out in Austria as elsewhere in Europe. There are now
two ibis reintroduction projects in the country, at Grünau and Waldrapp. A
research station at Grünau has a breeding
colony managed, like the Turkish population, as a free-flying flock which is
caged at migration time. The aim there is to investigate flock interactions and
hormonal status, behavioural and ecological aspects of natural foraging, and the
establishment of traditions via social learning. There is a planned reintroduction of the ibis at Ain Tijja-Mezguitem in the
north-east of Morocco. Since the
wild populations further south remain vulnerable, and the porous sandstone of
their breeding ledges is exposed to erosion, the intention is to establish a
non-migratory population (stocked from German, Swiss, and Austrian zoos) in an
area where this species was known to have bred up to about 1980. The station in
the Rif Mountains was
built in 2000, and stocked with the first group of zoo-bred birds. A second
importation of zoo-bred birds and the construction of an information centre took
place in 2004. Six pairs bred in 2006 subsequent to a change in the birds' diet,
and six offspring from five nests were successfully reared. In 2007 there were
nineteen birds (thirteen adults and six juveniles) in the aviary.
The rock walls of the mountains have many potential
breeding ledges, and an artificial lake provides water to the birds and to the
local human population. Steppe Pasture which is not exposed to herbicides or
pesticides gives good foraging. Once the population reaches around forty birds,
a release will be initiated, subject to international agreement. The
reintroduction site is 475 miles from Agadir on the other side of the Atlas
Mountains, so accidental contamination of the wild colonies is unlikely.
Sketch of
Old Egyptian carvings depicting the Akh glyph
In culture:
According to local legend in the Birecik area, the
Northern Bald Ibis was one of the first birds that Noah released from the Ark as a symbol of fertility, and a
lingering religious sentiment in Turkey helped the colonies there to survive
long after the demise of the species in Europe, as described above.
This ibis was revered as a holy bird and a symbol of
brilliance and splendour in Ancient Egypt, where, together with the
Sacred Ibis, it was regarded as a
reincarnation of Thoth, scribe of the gods, who was
usually depicted with a man's body and the head of an ibis. The Old Egyptian word akh,
"to be resplendent, to shine", was denoted in hieroglyphs by a Bald Ibis, presumably as a
reference to its glossy plumage. In a more abstract sense, akh
stood for excellence, glory, honour, and virtue. It has also been used to
signify the soul or
spirit, one of five elements constituting personality.
Herodotus wrote of the man-eating Stymphalian
birds, which had wings of brass and
sharp metallic feathers they could fire at their victims. Ridding Lake
Stymphalia in Arcadia of these creatures
was one of the twelve labours of
Heracles. These mythical birds are
sometimes considered to be based on the Northern Bald Ibis, but since they were
described as marsh birds, and usually depicted without crests, the legendary
species is more likely to be derived from the Sacred Ibis. Some depictions, such
as the 6th century BC Athenian black-figure amphora in the British
Museum, clearly show the black head and white body of the
latter species. After the Bald Ibis became extinct in Central Europe, some later
writers thought that Gesner's description was itself one of several in his book
depicting mythical creatures.
Several countries have produced postage
stamps which depict the Northern Bald Ibis. They include Algeria, Morocco,
Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen, which are breeding or migration locations;
Austria, which is seeking to reintroduce the bird; and Jersey, which has a small captive
population.
ALL IN ALL WE HOPE
THIS ODD LOOKING BIRD MAKES
IT
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