The scarlet ibis found dead near Egmond aan Zee has been examined in Naturalis. This happened during a LiveScience event, where it was discovered that the bird probably did not live long in freedom and died of starvation.
Due to the damage to the feathers, taxidermist Becky Desjardins thinks the ibis escaped from someone private not very long ago. “He didn’t enjoy his freedom for long, less than six months I think, otherwise he would have new feathers,” Becky said. She also reports that the ibis probably didn’t like walking around alone at all. “They are real social birds,” she says.
Escaped
She does not know where the ibis comes from. “We checked the ring and also checked whether the ibis was chipped,” explains Becky. Ibises are spotted in several provinces in the Netherlands. “It is not likely that these have escaped from the same cage, there are many ibises kept in the Netherlands,” says Becky.
Normally the ibis lives in South America and the bird does not occur in the wild in the Netherlands. She also does not envision a scenario such as the wild ring-necked parakeets, which have settled in the country. “Ibises are picky eaters, the ring-necked parakeet eats almost everything. I don’t think we will get wild ibises, although that would be a very nice sight,” Becky laughs.
The finder of the ibis, Jos van Duin, had received free tickets from Naturalis. “We are going to look around here today, my children and dad really like that,” says Jos. At the beginning of October 2021, Jos found the ibis while kite surfing. “It was a beautiful sight with clear water and suddenly a red ball”, says Jos.
He continues: “At first I was quite nervous to pick it up, but I thought: I’ll take it with me. Maybe I can still track down the owner with the strap around the leg.” Unfortunately, that turned out to be impossible, so Jos gave the bird to the wildlife sanctuary in Krommenie. They contacted Naturalis, where the bird was kept in a freezer for several months after its death.
bellows
During the investigation, the bird is completely emptied, after which it is bellowed. That is a way of setting up in which the animal is not placed in a nice position, but in a position that makes it possible to store it in a drawer.
Millions of animals are stored in this way at Naturalis. In this way, researchers look at how a species changes over a long period of time. The scarlet ibis is added to that collection. “First it has to dry for three weeks and spend at least 24 hours in a disinfectant freezer,” explains Becky.