IBIS ERMITÀ PROJECT
The Northern Bald ibis (ibis ermità in catalan) became one of the most endangered species of birds on the planet. With only 220 birds in the wild, its survival hung in the balance and the IUCN classified it as CR, critically endangered on its red list of endangered species.
To remove a species from the list of most threatened species, it is necessary to recover wild populations that are self-sustaining, resilient and with genetic exchange between them.
HELP US
Take time to take care of the Empordà ibis at the Aiguamolls bird sanctuary!
Every day we feed, clean and control each one of the ibis in the aviary!
By contributing just 1 € / month you will help to feed the ibis!
Contributions managed by Teaming.net
Through a donation you will help us to maintain the facilities where we take care of the ibis and to finance the purchase of the GPS.
Remember that donations have tax advantages (up to 95% of the donation).
Becoming a godfather is a very special way of keeping you linked to the project. From keeping up to date with their state of health to being able to give a name to your ibis! Check out all the sponsorship options.
The Ibis Ermità project is developed inside the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà Natural Park. An area with several herds of cows and horses in ecological regime and that graze extensively all year round, between Pau, Castelló d’Empúries, Peralada, Pedret i Marzà and Palau-saverdera.
The method we are using in the Empordà to establish an ibis population is based on previous experience with projects in Cadis and Austria.
We approach the Northern bald ibis and the project
Would you like to know more about the northern bald ibis reintroduction project we are developing in the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà?
If we know him, we will want to keep him!
That’s why we offer a range of activities for organisations, schools and companies!
- Team scape: the migration of the Northern bald ibis
- Learn about ibis – conference 60′.
- Mission: let’s get the ibis back (escolar)
- We take care of ibis chicks (school) (from July)
- We collaborate with the Ibis Ermità project (CSR activity. Companies)
Ask us: info@alivefund.org
Who is the "ibis ermità" (Northern bald ibis)?
It is a bird of the pelecaniformes group, along with glossy ibis, pelicans and other ibises. Its scientific name is Geronticus eremita, which means ‘the old hermit’.
In the Empordà we find two species of ibis that must be differentiated.
The hermit ibis is a very rare and endangered bird, much larger than the royal ibis and which uses terrestrial environments and very rarely the humid environments of the Empordà. Note its bald head typical of adults, the young have it well feathered until the second year. The plume hanging from the back of the neck is also typical.
Now, in the Aiguamolls, we have the common royal capon , a wetland bird weighing about 700 g and which can be seen in groups of more than a hundred in the wetlands and rice fields of Empordà.
Historically, most populations were migratory, flying south to Ethiopia for the eastern populations and to Mauritania for the western populations.
There are fossil records of northern bald ibis in the South of France and in the province of Castellón de la Plana, historical records in the Balearic Islands of Pliny the Elder, and in Castilian falconry books from the Middle Ages, as records closest to Catalonia. Unfortunately, we do not have our own records in Catalonia due to the lack of naturalists in those centuries so tumultuous in our country, but certainly northern bald ibis passed through our country in migration from the populations just to the north and on their way to the wintering grounds in the south. If they bred in our country, we cannot know if there is no data in some historical record unknown until now.
There are also historical records at the foot of the northern slopes of the Alps, with one of the first known conservation laws being written when the Cardinal of Salzburg banned the hunting of ibis to prevent the disappearance of the breeding colony that dominated a cliff above the city. These Central European populations disappeared with the global cooling of the Little Ice Age in the 17th century.
There are very old Egyptian pictograms where you can perfectly appreciate the northern bald ibis with its plumes behind its neck.
Well into the 20th century, only breeding colonies remained in North Africa, Morocco and Algeria mainly, and some in the Middle East in Syria and Turkey. The colonies in Algeria and Syria would eventually disappear, some already into the 21st century. In Morocco, the population would be restricted to the Agadir area, with a minimum of 220 individuals in the wild at its most delicate moment. And in Turkey, only one semi-free colony remains, where in winter the population that roams freely all summer in the Birecik area is closed and its migration is prevented. At the beginning of the 21st century, two reintroduction projects were initiated in the northern area of the Alps and in the Cadiz area.
PROJECTS FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE NORTHERN BALD IBIS
Reintroduction of ibis in Andalusia
In the 1990s, a first proposal was presented by Ralf Massanés and Jordi Sargatal to release northern bald ibis in the Cabo de Gata area, in Almería. The project did not end up being successful, but served as the basis for a later project by the Jerez Zoo to release ibis in the province of Cádiz.
This project began in 2004 in the Retin military zone, where a cage was installed for acclimatization and subsequent release of ibis that had been raised by hand by humans or naturally by ibis parents in captivity.
For several years, these releases have been reinforced until the current situation where no more ibis bred in captivity are released and there is a wild population of almost 400 specimens with four breeding colonies that are already self-sustaining.
North of the Alps
In 2002, a project led by the Waldrappteam began in Austria and Germany, in the wide valleys located just north of the Alps in historically ibis breeding areas.
The problem with reintroducing birds to that area is the harsh winter weather conditions that force the birds to migrate to warmer areas to feed on the invertebrates that live just below the ground and that are their source of energy.
The people of the Waldrapteam were inspired by the American film “Flying free” and inspired by a real case of goose migration to also use ultralights to guide groups of ibis in an assisted migration to the Orbetello reserve in central Italy.
In order to guide the ibis, it was necessary to hand-reare the ibis with caretakers who would be the ones the ibis would follow when they climbed aboard the ultralights. The process is not as simple as it sounds, but rather requires a long learning process that has taken several years to master.
After years of difficulties in atmospheric conditions to make the migration in 2022, one of the Ibis, named Ingrid, decided to undertake a solo migration that took him to Catalonia, where he spent a few days in Banyoles and Pals and then continued south and reached the towns of Cadiz. This fact inspired the people of the Waldrappteam to try a new migratory route that would cross half of Europe to reach Cadiz, passing through Catalonia. In the last 2023 and 2024, groups of migrating ibis have arrived in Catalonia through Alt Empordà and have continued along the coast and pre-coastal areas in their migration south.
And in the Empordà...
The new northern bald ibis breeding center in Alt Empordà is located halfway between the colonies in the northern Alps and the colonies in Cadiz and at the same latitude as the town of Orbetello, where the wintering grounds of the breeding populations in the northern Alps are located, and therefore ideal for both a sedentary and migratory population of northern bald ibis.
The method for establishing this population is based on the experience of the Eremita Project (Jerez)
This methodology is based on the union of two groups of ibis chicks: those hand-reared by adoptive humans and those raised by their natural parents.
The two groups of birds are placed together in an acclimation cage for a few months.
The goal is to establish the ibis around the cage once the doors are opened a few months later. It is very important that the acclimatization cage is located in an area with pastures and livestock, which is the preferred habitat of northern bald ibis.
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