Fifteen red kites are currently housed at the Aspromonte National Park's acclimation and release center, ready to be released into the wild. On June 20, 2024, ten red kites born in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, were transferred to Italy and joined five red kites translocated from Corsica six days earlier.
In the Canton of Fribourg, a team of Swiss ornithologists, coordinated by expert ornithologist Adrian Aebischer, monitored 90 nests in March and April 2024 and then selected those suitable for taking ten young raptors. After a final check in early June, the young, aged 40-44 days, were taken from as many nests in which there were two individuals and which were relatively easy to climb. In reality, the sampling operations are quite complex because the nests, located mostly on spruce trees, are built on branches that are at considerable heights above the ground. Field activities were carried out thanks to ornithologists and tree climbers Adrian Aebischer, Pascal Grand, Christian Grand, Valentjin van Bergen, Paul Ducry, and Henry Vigneau. Nest monitoring was also carried out through the use of drones, operated by Paul Ducry and Sarah Monod.
Once captured, the red kites were temporarily housed at the "Rita Ruch" Recovery Center, affiliated with the Natural History Museum in Freiburg and directed by Caroline Chatton, and then underwent veterinary inspection by Dirk Hamburger.
On June 20, 2024, the ten red kites were transferred to Italy by Luca Pelle, contact person for the LIFE MILVUS project and head of the Park's Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Service Manager, and ornithologist Mario Pucci, of the Calabrian Ornithological Station. The whole operation was possible support of the Swiss authorities (Canton of Fribourg, the Federal Office for the Environment of Switzerland and the Federal Veterinary Office of Switzerland).
After customs procedures were cleared in Chiasso (CO), the young raptors rested at the Centro Recupero Animali Selvatici (Wildlife Recovery Center) of the Riserva Lago di Vico (VT), thanks to the willingness of the Ente Monti Cimini and the care of CRAS manager Giampiero Tirone, Sara Vincenzi (contract assistant) and Veronica Cippitelli (who works within the LIFE LANNER project).
Here the Swiss kites met the five Corsican-born "friends," who had arrived by air in Maremma on June 14 and made an initial stopover for a few days at the CERM Center for Threatened Raptors in Rocchette di Fazio (GR).
At dawn on June 21, all fifteen red kites continued their journey to Aspromonte National Park, where they arrived in the late afternoon.
They are now guests in the aviaries of the acclimatization and release center located in Fiumara Amendolea, entrusted to the staff of the Aspromonte Protection Cooperative and ornithologists from the Calabrian Ornithological Station.
Also monitoring their health and behavior is the prying but crucial eye of the center's video surveillance system cameras.
The young raptors are scheduled to be released in the second half of July 2024.
