Abstract
AbstractThe northern bald ibis Geronticus eremita was once widespread throughout the Middle East, northern Africa, and southern and central Europe. Habitat destruction, persecution and the impacts of pesticides have led to its disappearance from most of its former range. It disappeared from central Europe > 400 years ago, but has persisted as a relict and slowly growing breeding population in Morocco, where c. 700 wild birds of all ages remain. In Algeria, the last confirmed breeding was in 1984; in Turkey the fully wild population disappeared in 1989, but a population remains in semi-wild conditions. In Syria a small population was rediscovered in 2002, only to subsequently decline to functional extinction. Restoration programmes have been initiated independently in several locations, with over 300 free-flying birds resulting from reintroduction projects in Austria, Germany, Spain and Turkey, to restore both sedentary and fully migratory populations. Maintaining current efforts in Morocco remains a high conservation priority.
Highlights
T he northern bald ibis Geronticus eremita is one of the rarest birds
Persecution and the impacts of agricultural pesticides led to its disappearance from most of its former range (Hirsch, ; Collar & Stuart, )
It was extirpated from central Europe . years ago, but breeding populations persisted in Morocco, Algeria, Turkey and Syria into the th century
Summary
T he northern bald ibis Geronticus eremita is one of the rarest birds. recently recategorized on the IUCN’s Red List from Critically Endangered to Endangered, it has a precariously small wild population limited to a handful of breeding sites, and the main subpopulation has only recently recovered slightly (BirdLife, ).The northern bald ibis was probably once widespread across the Middle East, northern Africa, and southern and central Europe, with wintering populations as far south as Mauritania and Senegal, and from the Arabian Peninsula and African Red Sea coast to Eritrea and Ethiopia. From the release and tracking of juvenile birds from the Birecik Breeding Centre confirmed that the Turkish northern bald ibis had not lost the ability to migrate This left the last known colony of eastern northern bald ibis at Birecik, Turkey, with , breeding pairs in the s (Bowden et al, ).
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