They Made it!

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

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Well I just received word from Johannes that after a single 90 km flight the birds and team have made it to the final destination and landed in Orbetello!

All the birds are now reunited with all the team members and everyone is most happy. The team set up our aviary one last time and all the birds will stay in there for the next few weeks to acclimate to the area before Joseph from World Wildlife Federation lets them out.

While he was there, the five ibis we saw last week who live there came by to see Joseph for a bite to eat and they actually followed him into the aviary with the newcomers!

Once the birds are settled in and lose their migration motivation Joseph will allow them out of the aviary to roam about. He will always be available to feed them but will gradually ween them off feedings so they learn to be wild ibis as the other have done before them. Once these birds reach maturity in three years we should expect to see them migrating north.

The happy and tired team has now started their return migration north to their homes and to prepare for next years migration.

Hope you enjoyed flying with us and if you would like more info about this project; past, present or future, you can visit the website at www.waldrappteam.at


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Migration Update

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

One of my favorite shots of me and my buddy Rubio.
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Linx mom and babies from the Wildpark in Scharnstein.
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Lynn Hafner with the ibis at Rosegg Wildpark.
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Waldrapp youngsters at WWF Italy.
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Sunbathing break
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The Phyrnpass at the Austrian Alps as seen from the para-plane
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A Least weasel we saw waiting at the Trieben Airfield.
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Mountain goats we saw while waiting on the Phyrnpass climbing the side of the Alps.
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Rubio and Hektor, my constant companions at Scharnstein.
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Ever curious and friendly Hektor.
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Harry foraging after a flight.
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Takeoff from Lido di Classe.
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Well, after spending nearly two days in airports and planes I am home at last! And I must say it's been an amazing 5 weeks for me being part of such an important scientific project.

I shall really miss the friends I have made and the experiences I had while in Europe working with the Waldrappteam. I have been following the progress of the migrations since the start of the project in 2003 and always been thrilled and excited to hear all the news when the birds were being hand-raised, being taught to follow the planes and the actual daily progress of the migrations. But to actually this year be a part of that process was an experience beyond words. It is such a great feeling to know that I have now played a part in helping put an endangered species back into the wild. And as I said, and experience I shall treasure. To see the Waldrapps take to the sky first thing in the morning and to actually fly with them in the plane over Europe is something I shall never forget!

Now an update since I have arrived home.

When Martina and I left the team with the 12 Waldrapps they were in Lido Di Classe preparing to fly to Santarcangelo. Well the birds did fly there, and after a short break the team then started off for the next stop of the day in Arezzo Italy. However they had some problems, and Johannes plane crashed (he is ok!). The plane has been damaged so the foster mother and pilot Walter had to fly on alone with the five birds but the birds had other ideas (again!) and flew back, circled over Johannes and disappeared!

Foster Mother Tanja and team member Arno drove back to Santarcangelo in hopes they would return there and by the next morning to every-ones relief the birds did return.

They are now close to the final destination in the Orbitello where they will rejoin Martina and the 12 ibis to stay the winter. I will write back once they arrive and this years migration has finally come to it's completion.

I've attached some of my favorite photos and thanks for staying tuned and being part of this fantastic journey!


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My Final Day

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

Tanja

My favorite shot of the Coliseum

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Gladiators

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Martina and I

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The Vatican
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After awaking early to feed the ibis with Martina I said my farewells to the 12 birds, including my favorite; Harry (Potter), and yes, his leg bands are Gryfindor colors of Red and Yellow :) .

I am sad to be leaving the birds and also Europe as it's been an experience of a life time and one I shall never forget!

Since we had several problems with the birds flying especially around the Alps we ended up very behind on schedule and since the migration is not complete at this point I was unable to get back to Munich for my flight home as planned. So a flight from Rome to Munich was booked for me, which meant that I could also see Rome; something unplanned and a real treat!

Rome was amazing! It is everything you see in the movies; loud, busy; with cars, buses and motorcycles whizzing by in every direction, and most importantly totally cool! To see the Forum, the Coliseum and Vatican City was just awesome. There is just so much history here and the architecture is phenomenal. To think how old some of these buildings are and to see excavations many meters down where older sections of Rome once stood is truly awe inspiring.

And this is the most tourists I have seen in one place in five weeks. Tours going in every direction, tourists with camera's in hand and souvenir stands featuring mini coliseum's, gladiator statues and all manner of bric-a-brac! I think, of all of the touristy things I saw, I found the men dressed up as gladiators the funniest! They were everywhere and would try and get you to take a picture with them for (of course) a coin, or two!

After eating some lunch in St. Peter's square we made our way back to the terminal to head to the Leonardo DA Vinci International Airport for my flight. Martina and I were very sad to say our fair wells, we have become friends and have spent the last several days together and I shall really miss her.

homeward bound!
ciao!


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Another Holiday

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

Port S Stefano

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Port S Stefano
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Orbitello sign

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Waldrapp Ibis

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Deer

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Marsh frog

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Today after feeding the ibis their breakfast, Martina and I set out for the Tuscany port town of Port S Stefano to do some sightseeing and sunbathing.

What a busy and wonderful little typical oceanside town built on a mountain overlooking the sea and the Island of Montecristo!

After some lunch and shopping we then set off to find a nice beach to sunbathe. We had a great time as the beach we found was quite quiet, the water a gorgeous blue and so warm.

Then we headed back to the reserve where Joseph promised us a trip around to do some bird and mammal watching, what a treat! The reserve is several hundred kilometers of fields, marshes and of course the laguna so we saw quite a variety of animals including the flamingos! Joseph tells us over 3000 flamingos migrate through the reserve each year, unfortunately we only were able to see a few at the time and from quite a distance so I was unable to capture a great photo, but what a treat!

Some of the birds we saw were curlews, bee-eaters, herons, egrets, magpies, flamingos and.... waldrapp ibis! Ok, so your saying, but of course you can see them there, you brought them! But I am referring to the five one year olds from last years migration that now live in the area. They are too young yet to migrate back to Austria as they do not do so until they are of breeding age at three, so these youngsters are living here on their own awaiting the return of Speedy, Aurelia, Bobby, Media and company who as I write are making their way back to Orbitello. Joseph looks out for them daily, and if they did not have a good foraging day they will seek him out for some free grub as they did today. We were walking along a path and they just appeared seemingly out of no-where and circled over Joseph's head! He called them down and then went back to his car where he always keeps a supply of food in the event he should see them. Joseph fed them and we visited them for awhile before heading back to our tour of the reserve where we also saw nutria and a species of deer (have no idea what they are called as Joseph identified them in Italian!). In addition we saw the clear tracks of wild boar and porcupine! Not to be forgotten, we also saw several reptiles on our expedition such as green lizards, viviparous lizards, european green toads and marsh frogs.

The reserve is a treasure of wildlife, with over 250 species of birds alone who live or stopover here on their yearly migrations. It was quite a treat to be able to not only visit here but to be able to take a tour and see just a small fraction of the creatures currently here.

Tomorrow will be my departure day here from Europe and I am both sad to be leaving and anxious to get home as I have now been away for five weeks! We drive to Rome in the morning, will be tourists for a few hours and then head to the airport. Stay tuned for our non animal adventures!
ciao!


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A Holiday at last!

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

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Well today other than feeding the ibis here at the reserve, Martina and I had nothing to do. What to do for two girls in Italy?.... alot!

Martina's father called to let her know he and the family were camping not too far from us and invited us to spend the day. They were camping at a wonderful camp ground only a few kilometres from us in Lago Di Bolsena at a lake which is a volcanic crater! This lake was not only gorgeous but also quite large with an island in the middle and a private church. This was also my first experience with a black sand beach and it is so much nicer and softer than a regular beach.

We had a fantastic day with Mr. Schiestl, his brother and his wife. They made us a delicious lunch with lots of fish and tasty italian cheeses (my first taste of anchovies; I loved them!) and great Italian wine. We then took a wonderful and peaceful nap on the beach and then enjoyed coffee on the the beach, what a treat! .... oh and topped this fantastic day off with a real treat, a hot shower!!!.

All too soon it was time to return to our babies before dark for their feeding so we had to leave this wonderful place. I thank Martina and her very cordial family for an opportunity I would otherwise have never had and it was such a treat!

Tomorrow we have more touristy stuff planned as my time here winds down........stay tuned :)
ciao!


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More Decisions

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

A view from our drive through the Apennines to Orbitello.
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Another shot of our drive down one of the mountains.
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An Italian town in the mountains.
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Another town in the mountains we drove through.
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Joseph from the Italian World Wildlife Federation and Martina with our Ibis at the Reserve.
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Again we awoke early to fly the birds by 7am. The weather was perfect and the birds had a fantastic take off. They flew well for only a few kilometers however before again turning back to camp!

After another meeting and more debate over why this group of birds has such a low flight motivation it was again decided to cull the group and only fly with the 5 strongest flyers and then Martina and I would take the remaining 12 ibis to our final destination in the Laguna di Orbetello in Tuscany and await the groups arrival.

Martina set out to pack the 12 birds while I packed our gear and food for our 250 km drive from our camp on the western shore of Italy clear across to the western shore in Tuscany.

It was quite a long drive and much of it was twisty mountain roads through the Apennine mountains. After 6 hours we arrived here in Orbitello at the World Wildlife Reserve where the birds will free range for the winter. We were greeted by Joseph and Pietro who work here for the WWF Italia.

We fed and settled the birds into an aviary where they will stay (also with the other 5 ibis) for about 3 weeks and then Joseph will let them out and continue to feed them while they learn to find areas for foraging on their own.

Once this long day was over and the birds were settled Martina and I set up our little camp (the van!) and finally went to sleep. As the next few days will be very interesting and you will soon see..........
stay tuned!


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Rained in With Potatoes!

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

Mealworm feeding.
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Potatoes.
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Well these last few days the weather has certainly not been our friend! We get up each morning at 5:30 ready to fly but it is either too windy or beginning to rain.

Needless to say this is becoming a strain on the team and our morale as we had hoped to be closer to the end of the migration by now. I am especially sad as it does not appear I will be able to see the birds land at the end of the migration in Tuscany as I have only a few days left of my stay.

To entertain ourselves with this extended grounding we are finding interesting things to do. Well at least interesting for us! We have gone shopping for food as of course we must eat as sometimes we eat here at the restaurant at the airfield but must also cook. The man who owns the restaurant took us out in the field yesterday to pick potatoes and then to another field to pick watermelons. So now we shall be eating potatoes everyday! .... any suggestions for new ways to cook potatoes are gladly welcome!

Also while looking for things to do; Johannes made a new enrichment toy for the ibis who also seem to be getting quite bored. They would not go near it until Tanja and Martina the foster moms showed them it was ok and now they spend much of their time playing with the new toy trying to get the worms out of it.

We are very hopeful tomorrow the weather will decide to be our friend and we can finally continue on with our migration!


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Another Day of Rest

By Ellie Mark
Bird Keeper

Foster parent Martina resting with her birds.
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Nasty mosquito, one of many who are tormenting us!
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The weather forecast was correct and we were unable to fly due to heavy rain. We had the chance to make our breakfast in the restaurant this morning so we did not have to sit out in the rain and get a needed break from all the mosquitoes!

The birds look well rested and relaxed so we will attempt our takeoff tomorrow morning at 7 am to Santarcangelo.


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