AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, a bird species called the northern bald ibis, with its bald red head and long curved beak, was a common sight across Europe and North Africa until it was hunted to near extinction. The species had completely disappeared from Central Europe by the 17th century, with only a few colonies surviving in other parts of the world. But now, more than 300 years later, the northern bald ibis is back in Europe after decades of conservation efforts. But as the weather gets colder and it's time to migrate, the birds don't know where to fly. So enter biologist Johannes Fritz. He leads a team of scientists that teach the birds where to migrate for the winter. Johannes Fritz joins us now. Welcome.
JOHANNES FRITZ: Thanks. It's a pleasure.
CHANG: It's such a pleasure to have you. And all of this sounds so incredible. But before we talk about migration, how did the species come back from that point of near extinction?
FRITZ: The species went extinct in Europe 300 years ago. We don't have any birds from the historical European population. But fortunately, we have a well-managed breeding population in captivity. The wild populations are extinct meanwhile, but we can work with these birds from captivity and reintroduce them into the wild.
CHANG: Wow. Well, thank goodness that they are back. Let me just get this straight now. You are teaching these birds how to migrate for the winter. I mean, don't birds just instinctively know what to do and where to go when it gets cold? I'm amazed.
FRITZ: In larger-size birds like geese, cranes and also ibises, the migration route is a social tradition. It passes from generation to generation.
CHANG: Oh, a younger bird needs to follow an older bird along a route to actually learn where to go.
FRITZ: Right, right.
CHANG: OK. So I guess you're substituting in to be an older bird, a guide bird. So what's involved in teaching birds how to migrate? Like, are you in the actual sky with them in a tiny plane, or are you disguising drones?
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: How does a bird go to migration school with you?
FRITZ: We are actually in the sky. So just now I'm in the south of France, and we migrate with a group of 36. We started our journey in Bavaria, north of the Alps, and now we are on the way down to Andalusia in southern Spain. We do that with a small microlight plane, a double seat. I'm the pilot.
CHANG: OK.
FRITZ: But essential is that behind me is one of the foster parents.
CHANG: The birds' foster parents. These are human foster parents sitting in the back of the plane with you.
FRITZ: Right.
CHANG: I mean, how are you building a relationship with these birds so that they're actually following you in the skies?
FRITZ: It's a learning mechanism. It's an imprinting mechanism. So these chicks are raised by two human foster parents. They care for them. They feed them. They interact with them. They socialize with them, and...
CHANG: (Laughter) I love it.
FRITZ: ...That basically means these birds think that these humans, they are their parents. They trust their parents. They follow their parents.
CHANG: Even if their parents enter a strange metal contraption in the sky, then they lift off with their own wings to follow their parents.
FRITZ: Yeah.
CHANG: And I read that in this microlight aircraft, the foster parents are, like, waving and shouting encouragement through a bullhorn. That's actually working? The birds are keying into that?
FRITZ: The foster parents even take megaphones with them into the sky, and they call them with the megaphones. (Speaking German). This means, come on, northern bald ibis, come on, in German language.
(LAUGHTER)
FRITZ: And...
CHANG: These are German-speaking northern bald ibises, I suppose.
FRITZ: Yeah, yeah.
CHANG: Yeah, yeah.
FRITZ: The German-speaking ones, right. Yes.
CHANG: I have to ask, as you approach the end of your journey, which still has several days to go, what does it feel like to say goodbye to these birds that you've carried, guided for so many kilometers?
FRITZ: Every year, the last flight is a very special one. On the one-hand side, we reach the destination. On the other-hand side, we know that it's the last flight ever with these birds because we will never again fly with this group of birds. They have what they need, and we release them into the wild. This is an emotional moment also for me...
CHANG: Yeah.
FRITZ: ...But particularly for the foster parents, which were with these birds for eight months.
CHANG: Yeah.
FRITZ: This was their life. They are more birds than human.
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: Biologist and conservationist Johannes Fritz. Thank you so much. This was such a delight.
FRITZ: Was a pleasure for me. Goodbye. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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