{"id":4364,"date":"2025-02-10T23:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T23:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/?p=4364"},"modified":"2025-07-18T23:52:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T23:52:50","slug":"the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/","title":{"rendered":"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n
\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n
\n \n
\n\n \n In a still from a not-yet-released documentary directed by Tyler Schiffman ’17, conservationists use an ultralight aircraft to teach critically endangered northern bald ibis how to migrate.\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n \n \n
\n\n \n

The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n February 10, 2025<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n
\n \n \n Share\n <\/span>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Copy Link<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Facebook<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n \n\n<\/svg>\n\n <\/span>\n X<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n LinkedIn<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Bluesky<\/span>\n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n Email<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n \n \n
\n\n \n

Original story by Nick Paumgarten<\/em><\/p>\n

The birds left Bavaria on the second Tuesday in August. They took off from an airfield, approximated a few sloppy laps, and then began to follow a microlight aircraft, as though it were one of them. The contraption reared and dipped as its pilot, a Tyrolian biologist, tugged on the steering levers. Behind him, in the rear seat, a young woman with a blond ponytail called to the birds in German through a bullhorn. As the microlight receded west into the haze, the birds chasing behind, an armada of cars and camper vans sped off in pursuit.<\/p>\n

The birds, three dozen in all, were members of a species called the northern bald ibis: funny-looking, totemic, nearly extinct. The humans were a team of scientists and volunteers, Austrians and Germans, mostly, who had dedicated the next two months, or in some cases their lives, to the task of reintroducing these birds to the wild in Europe, four centuries after they disappeared from the continent.<\/p>\n

The woman with the bullhorn was Barbara Steininger, or Babsi, one of the birds\u2019 two foster mothers, who had hand-raised them since their hatching, four months before. The pilot was the project leader, Johannes Fritz, a fifty-seven-year-old scientist and Pied Piper. Almost every August for the past twenty years, he has led a flock of juveniles on a fall migration, to teach them how, and where, to travel. This was this flock\u2019s first day on the move. They had seven weeks and seventeen hundred miles to go until, assuming more miracles, they would reach wintering grounds on the southern coast of Spain.<\/p>\n

Capturing all of it on film: Tyler Schiffman ’17 and his crew. Schiffman, who graduated from the Wrigley Institute’s Environmental Studies Program<\/a>, has made a career as an environmental photographer and filmmaker. His documentary on the ibis project, perhaps his most ambitious project yet, will likely be released in 2026 or 2027.<\/p>\n

Read the full story in The New Yorker >><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":4365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[39,9],"class_list":["post-4364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-alumni","tag-environmental-studies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction - Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-10T23:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-18T23:52:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1431\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathryn Royster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kathryn Royster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/8d145e5d8f50e29acee6ca512632733e\"},\"headline\":\"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-10T23:52:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-18T23:52:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\"},\"wordCount\":14,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png\",\"keywords\":[\"alumni\",\"environmental studies\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\",\"name\":\"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction - Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-10T23:52:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-18T23:52:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/8d145e5d8f50e29acee6ca512632733e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1431,\"caption\":\"an ultralight aircraft with a bright yellow parachute leads a group of endangered ibis through a sunny blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/\",\"name\":\"Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability\",\"description\":\"Creating a more sustainable and environmentally just future for our planet and all who live on it\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/8d145e5d8f50e29acee6ca512632733e\",\"name\":\"Kathryn Royster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac60c28082a9a6538663bfb0e8a3752867648c099100b2aa9409599b67af4b16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac60c28082a9a6538663bfb0e8a3752867648c099100b2aa9409599b67af4b16?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kathryn Royster\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/author\/kroyster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction - Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability","og_url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/","og_site_name":"Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability","article_published_time":"2025-02-10T23:52:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-18T23:52:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1431,"url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kathryn Royster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/"},"author":{"name":"Kathryn Royster","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/8d145e5d8f50e29acee6ca512632733e"},"headline":"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction","datePublished":"2025-02-10T23:52:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-18T23:52:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/"},"wordCount":14,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png","keywords":["alumni","environmental studies"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/","name":"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction - Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png","datePublished":"2025-02-10T23:52:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-18T23:52:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/8d145e5d8f50e29acee6ca512632733e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2025\/07\/ibis-migrating-with-ultralight-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1431,"caption":"an ultralight aircraft with a bright yellow parachute leads a group of endangered ibis through a sunny blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/02\/10\/the-heroic-effort-to-bring-a-european-ibis-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The heroic effort to bring a European ibis back from the brink of extinction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/","name":"Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability","description":"Creating a more sustainable and environmentally just future for our planet and all who live on it","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/8d145e5d8f50e29acee6ca512632733e","name":"Kathryn Royster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac60c28082a9a6538663bfb0e8a3752867648c099100b2aa9409599b67af4b16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac60c28082a9a6538663bfb0e8a3752867648c099100b2aa9409599b67af4b16?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kathryn Royster"},"url":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/author\/kroyster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4366,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4364\/revisions\/4366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}