Despite the current difficulties, we have received an update this week from the dedicated ibis rangers in Syria that a fourth bird has just arrived back at the breeding site! The newly arrived bird is unringed, and perhaps a returning 2007 juvenile? Perhaps one of the two unringed birds seen in February at the wintering site in Ethiopia? It is not yet clear whether it is pairing up with the unpaired female (Salama) or not. Meanwile, Odeinat and Zenobia once again have a nest. Salama has stopped transmitting, so we now have just one bird transmitting - the male Odeinat. Fingers crossed the new bird is a male, and that we are back up to two breeding pairs once again, 

We've just heard from the team in Syria that all three adults... Odeinat, Salama and Zenobia, are safely back from migration on the Syrian breeding grounds today! This is particularly pleasing since Salama had not transmitted since late last year, but this now seems to simply be tag failure rather than anything worse. Still no sign of the other two untagged birds that were seen on the Ethiopian wintering grounds, so where those birds go is becoming a source of speculation. Or perhaps they will appear at Palmyra one of these days?

Of course we all hope that the current troubles in Syria are soon resolved, and wish our colleagues there a successful and safe season.

Sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that Odeinat is suddenly on the move north, and going fast having already crossed the Red Sea!! No signal yet from Salama which is worrying as she normally starts transmitting again before now...  So we will anxiously await the news from Syria once the birds return...

And thanks to our Ethiopian BirdLife Partner colleagues and a small grant from RSPB, (Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society) and Yilma Ebebe in particular, the birds were checked a week ago at the area they have most frequently overwintered... after persistent searching, they were able to locate 3 birds... two unringed (perhaps same birds as appeared unexpectedly last year?) and one ringed bird - Zenobia or Salama. We await the full details.

Only Odeinat is still transmitting, and he remains in the same area. We assume that Salama is still in the traditional wintering grounds a bit further north and higher in the Ethiopian highlands. We're not optimistic for the two Turkish juveniles that havent transmitted for over two months now, so we will just have to wait until next spring now and hope that any return (remember that two untagged birds were also released).

You may also be interested to follow progress of two tagged birds in Morocco, which is showing some very interesting results and movements... and that work is also a top priority identified by IAGNBI (International Advisory Group for NBI) and fully merits support. Check: http://northernbaldibis.blogspot.com/p/help-us-to-preserve-nbi.html  Although the Moroccan population is supposedly non-migratory, there are regular disappearances of up to 35% of the birds and the results of tracking the birds there are key to understanding where those birds may go...

After his prolonged stay in southern Saudi Arabia, Odeinat quickly crossed Yemen and the Red Sea and is now in the same area he spent last winter.... so not in the main wintering area where we know the other full adults usually go.  Although Salama isnt transmitting, we assume she is still safely in her usual wintering area as the cloud in the mountains means that the solar tag loses charge.