Ask any ten year old what they want to
be when they grow up and you'll get a lot of firemen, some policemen,
a few teachers and a super-hero or two, but one profession I never
heard anyone want to be is “Foster mom to endangered birds.”
The Northern Bald Ibis in Europe (which
really isn't bald at all) was nearly extinct not that long ago. They
were a favored bird among hunters until a couple of ladies decided to
restore the Ibis to the Alps.....
These foster moms were featured on an
AXS.tv show recently (my new favorite channel!!). I was very impressed that the ladies could convince
these birds that they were their moms. The birds are conditioned to
the calls and signals of the foster mother and conditioned to the
aircraft and sound of the propeller.
Training for migration takes about
seven weeks. The birds will travel over 800 miles to their winter grounds in Tuscany. It will take them up to five
weeks to make the journey from the Austrian Alps to Italy. In three
years, the birds will return to breed.
Can you imagine the excitement when the
birds return?
No comments:
Post a Comment