NIIGATA – The Environment Ministry said it has found a third crested ibis chick hatched in the wild on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, a sibling to a second chick first spotted two days prior.
The chicks’ parents were both born in the wild on the island in the Sea of Japan, making the new additions among the country’s first second-generation wild ibises in 40 years.
The newly confirmed chick is thought to have hatched sometime in the past five days. It was seen popping its head up from the nest alongside its sibling Saturday morning.
The age of the parents is unknown, and they do not have identification bands on their legs, the ministry said.
The first chick spotted, born to a separate pair in the wild, has disappeared and is thought to have died, the ministry said.
Government conservationists reintroduced 10 birds bred in captivity into the wild on Sado in 2008. Before the revival effort, the last wild Japanese-born ibis died in 2003.
In 2012, eight crested ibises born to birds born in captivity were hatched on Sado, becoming the first born in the wild in Japan in 36 years.