The northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) is an unusual and distinctive waterbird that thrives in dry, open landscapes. Once widespread from Europe to North Africa and the Middle East, the bird has been recognized for its genetic and evolutionary uniqueness. Its decline began centuries ago, largely due to human activities such as chick collection, hunting, habitat destruction, and possibly climate change, including the Little Ice Age and recent global warming.
Once common across Southern and Central Europe, it vanished from many regions over time, surviving only in fragmented populations. After becoming extinct in much of Europe, two geographically and genetically distinct populations emerged: a western group in Morocco and Algeria and an eastern (or “oriental”) group in Syria and Turkey. These groups diverged in migratory behavior, with the western group being largely sedentary and the eastern one undertaking long-distance migrations.
The oriental ibis also holds deep cultural symbolism, appearing in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and religious texts. Large colonies once thrived in Birecik, Turkey, and along Syria’s Palmyra steppe and Euphrates River.
Throughout the 20th century, observers documented a dramatic decline in ibis populations across Syria and Turkey. Bedouin oral histories, historical accounts, and early ornithological studies confirmed the bird’s previous abundance and cultural relevance. However, modern threats—including DDT use in the 1960s, overhunting, and habitat degradation—caused colonies to disappear.
By the late 1980s, the once-thriving colony in Birecik was semi-captive and no longer migratory. A 1995 report incorrectly concluded that the species had vanished from Syria by the 1930s, though later fieldwork disproved this claim.
Oriental Bald Ibis Vanishes After Global Rescue Effort Fails to Prevent Final Decline
Rediscovery Sparked Hope, But Bureaucracy and Setbacks Undermined Efforts to Save Ibis
In 2002, during a UN-funded biodiversity project in the Syrian desert, a team led by the author and supported by local knowledge discovered a small, surviving colony of seven wild bald ibises near Palmyra. This astonishing find, referred to as the “Tutankhamun’s tomb of Arabian ornithology,” rekindled global conservation interest.
The rediscovered birds were believed to be the last of the oriental population, which had long been thought extinct. The discovery sparked both excitement and urgency to protect and study this rare population.
Conservation efforts began with vigor. In the first phase (2002–2004), the UN project allowed the team to implement effective protection strategies, reduce disturbances, and monitor breeding closely. Breeding success was initially high. However, setbacks followed when the UN project abruptly ended in 2004 due to bureaucratic issues.
Support from international NGOs proved inadequate. The author was banned from the field in key years, leading to failed breeding seasons. Despite this, a determined team continued fieldwork, even managing to satellite-tag several birds and trace their migratory route south to Ethiopia.
Satellite tracking in 2006 confirmed that the oriental bald ibis followed a southward migration through Yemen to Ethiopia, aligning with oral traditions from Birecik locals who claimed the birds guided pilgrims to Mecca. Collaborations with Ethiopian NGOs revealed that the birds wintered safely among farmlands and villages in the Ethiopian highlands.
These findings confirmed important migratory patterns and gave hope for survival, although the ibis faced growing threats along its migration route, including illegal hunting and electrocution from power lines.
Oriental Bald Ibis Vanishes After Global Rescue Effort Fails to Prevent Final Decline
Conservation Collapsed as Conflict, Drought, and Politics Drove the Ibis to Extinction
Starting in 2009, conservation resumed in Palmyra with support from Syria’s first lady and other partners. But the population was already in dire condition. Fewer birds returned each year, and the colony dwindled to a single pair by 2010.
Raven predation, prolonged drought, and a lack of juvenile recruitment—mainly due to high mortality during migration—further reduced chances of recovery. An artificial recruitment program with chicks from Birecik showed limited success. By 2011, civil war erupted in Syria, halting conservation activities and scattering the team.
After the conflict reached Palmyra in 2015, the breeding site was abandoned, and the ibis was considered functionally extinct in the Middle East. A few birds were still observed in Ethiopian wintering grounds until 2015, but no confirmed breeding occurred after that. The last returning female, aptly named Salam (Peace), appeared in Palmyra in 2013 and 2014 but found no partner. Despite years of international fundraising and support for displaced team members, the oriental ibis seemed to have disappeared forever.
Meanwhile, the IUCN controversially downlisted the bald ibis from critically endangered to endangered based on the growth of the western population and success of captive breeding programs in Europe. Critics, including the author, argued that this ignored the distinct genetics and migratory behavior of the oriental population.
Unlike the sedentary birds in Europe and Morocco, the Syrian ibises were a keystone species in their ecosystem, helping regulate invertebrate populations in the steppe. Their loss symbolized not just the extinction of a bird population, but the collapse of an entire ecological system.
The extinction of the oriental bald ibis population reveals both the possibilities and limitations of conservation under adverse conditions. The effort began with just seven birds, and although initial breeding success showed promise, inconsistent support and escalating threats proved fatal. Still, the project raised global awareness of threats to migratory birds and inspired efforts along the Red Sea flyway.
Saudi Arabia even joined a global conservation treaty in 2023. Though hopes for rediscovery linger, the story of the northern bald ibis in the Middle East stands as a powerful example of how ecological neglect, political instability, and fragmented conservation can lead to irreversible loss.
