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Article History

Received: 8 November 2022

Accepted: 24 February 2023

First Online: 9 March 2023

Declarations

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: Bird care, keeping, training, and release followed well-established standards in accordance with the legal regulations and under the supervision of <i>Waldrappteam Conservation & Research</i> experts. The data on the wild-living birds stem from a re-established migratory population in Europe, embedded in the European LIFE program (LIFE + 12-BIO_AT_000143; LIFE20 NAT/AT/000049). GPS tracking of most of the birds is primarily designed to monitor the animals over a large area and to implement targeted measures against the primary causes of mortality. Hand raising and training of four birds for the wind tunnel experiment was largely done to conduct wind tunnel experiments as part of the research project FWF_P 56639. These framework conditions then also enabled conducting the experiments described in this paper. In late autumn 2021, these four birds were integrated into a partially free-living sedentary Northern Bald Ibis colony of the Rosegg Zoo in Carinthia (AUT). All translocation and management measures were implemented in the frame of the European LIFE + project LIFE + 12-BIO_AT_000143. National approvals were provided by the provinces of Salzburg (21302-02/239/352-2012) and Carinthia (11-JAG-s/75-2004), as well as by Baden-Württemberg (I1-7.3.3_Waldrapp), Bavaria (55.1-8646.NAT_03-10-1), and Italy (0027720-09/04/2013). The present study was discussed and approved by the ethics and animals’ welfare committee of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria, under good scientific practice and national legislation (GZ: BMWFW-68.205/0069-V/3b/2019).

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.