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  Profile

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  In flight

Ghosts of the Past

Northern Bald Ibis

Geronticus eremita

• mythic
• 64 km/h
• Endangered

Ancient Egyptians revered it. Nearly vanished, now clinging on in Morocco. Sacred mail.

Population

Officially assessed at 200-249 mature individuals (IUCN/BirdLife, 2006 estimate, criterion D, trend listed "stable [suspected]"); this figure is stale — field counts of the whole Moroccan wild population (the vast majority of the species) reached ~580 by end of 2015 and ~700 birds by 2019, up from a mid-1990s low of 59 breeding pairs. A separate critically depleted eastern remnant persists (~100 managed birds at Birecik, Turkey; Syria functionally extinct, one bird seen since 2015).

Habitat

Breeds colonially on remote rocky cliffs, escarpments, and coastal ledges in arid regions, often near rivers or the sea; forages in nearby semi-arid steppe, short/dry grassland, stubble and fallow fields, avoiding tall vegetation over ~25 cm; can occur up to ~3,500 m on migration routes used by reintroduced European populations.

Fun fact

In Birecik, Turkey, local tradition held that the Northern Bald Ibis migrated each year to guide Hajj pilgrims toward Mecca, and an annual festival celebrated the bird's springtime return — reverence that helped protect the eastern colony long after the species vanished from Europe and much of its former range.

Range

Historically widespread across North Africa, the Middle East, and parts of southern/central Europe (extirpated from Europe 300+ years ago). Now two disjunct wild remnants: the dominant western population on Morocco's Atlantic coast (Souss-Massa National Park and Tamri, plus two sites confirmed in 2017), and a critically depleted eastern population (a small managed/semi-wild colony at Birecik, Turkey; Syria's wild population is functionally extinct — a single bird last seen in 2015). Human-led reintroduction (Waldrappteam project, including a migration-training program) has established breeding colonies in Austria, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

Diet

Carnivorous ground forager taking lizards and tenebrionid beetles as staples, plus small mammals, ground-nesting birds' eggs/chicks, snails, scorpions, spiders, caterpillars, and other invertebrates probed from soil and sparse vegetation with its long curved bill.

Size

0.75 m

Wingspan

1.3 m

Lifespan

15 years