I only just stopped myself checking the date at the top of the page while reading the newspaper. My first thought was that the article I was reading was a left over from April Fools' Day, but then I realised I was reading about a serious scientific experiment. The story concerned a species of bird which has been extinct in Austria for centuries: the bald ibis. At one time the bird nested in Austria before departing to spend the winter in southern Tuscany on the other side of the Alps. There has been an attempt to re-introduce the bird to Austria - but there is a snag. Or rather, there are two snags. First, the bald ibis doesn't like flying and the creatures are having to be persuaded to take to the air. Secondly, the bird has a poor sense of direction and is a bad navigator. Yes, really! So, the birds from Austria are being trained to follow a microlight which will lead them over the Alps and down Italy to their wintering grounds in Tuscany.
There was no mention of how they will get back to Austria next spring.
This is not the first time birds have been trained to migrate by following a mechanical leader. Whooping cranes were led for nearly three months last year from their breeding ground in central Wisconsin on a 1250-mile journey to Florida for the winter.
The reason for leading the ibis and the crane is simple enough when you come to think of it. Birds learn migratory routes from their parents. If they are first generation birds bred in aviaries, they have no parental guidance. The microlight aircraft act in loco parentis.
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