Johannes Fritz, a biologist, needed to come up with a plan, again, if he was going to prevent his rare and beloved birds from going extinct.
To survive the European winter, the northern bald ibis(朱鹭)—which had once disappeared entirely from the wild on the continent—needs to migrate south for the winter, over the Alps, before the mountains become impassable. But shifting climate patterns have delayed when the birds begin to migrate, and they are now reaching the mountains too late to make it over the peaks, locking them in an icy death trap. Determined to save them, Mr. Fritz decided he would teach the birds a new, safer migration route by guiding them himself in a tiny aircraft. And he was confident he could succeed in this daring, unconventional plan because he had done it before.
Mr. Fritz was his young pupils' sole provider of food, love and cuddles since they'd been just a few days old, and the ibises eagerly followed their teacher. He learned to fly, modifying an ultralight aircraft so it would cruise at speeds slow enough for his winged students to keep up. In 2014, three years after some initially bumpy experiments，Mr. Fritz led the first flock from Austria to Italy, and has since led 15 such migrations. Over that time, he has rewilded 277 young ibises， many of which then started to pass the route on to their own young. For now, however, the main worry is getting the birds to follow the aircraft. "While they have a strong bond with their 'mothers' and follow them around on the ground, flying is more difficult, " Fritz said.
'Fly Away Home was a huge hit with us biologists, "Mr. Fritz said, recalling the 1996 movie in which characters lead the migration of orphaned Canada geese in a hang glider. When Mr. Fritz proclaimed he'd do the same with the ibises, he was initially ridiculed. But through years of trial and error, he succeeded. He even learned to fly like a bird, he said, soaring with ease. Mr. Frita's two sons, both now teenagers, followed their flying father and the migrating birds on the ground, and his family and colleagues witnessed the risks he was taking. But the inevitable risks are "necessary", Mr. Fritz said.
"It's not so much a job, " he added. "but my life 's purpose. "
