It took almost ten years to achieve, but the Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust has been able to breed the Scarlet Ibis in captivity - 14 of them, to be exact.

Earlier this year, the Trust was able to release Ibises - which are part of its continuous breeding programme - within its protected 60-acre sanctuary. The Ibises range in age from 18 months to three years.

The Trust's vice-president, Karilyn Shephard, said the Ibis, an endangered species, had not been breeding in their natural habitat since the 1960s, adding that the birds' breeding pattern only began to improve in the last four years.

"We started breeding the first hatchling on July 11, 1991," Shephard said. "It was quite an effort to get the Scarlet because they are colonial nesters - they nest in groups, flocking birds - they rely on the presence of other birds of their own species."

So it's not surprising to see the Ibis - a wetland species - together with Herons and Egrets.

Shephard said she's not sure why the Ibises stopped breeding in significant numbers for such a long time. She offered by way of explanation that the construction of the Uriah Butler Highway meant that there weren't "enough culverts" for fresh water drainage.

"So that when it rained, we got floods preventing a certain amount of fresh water from going into the Caroni River."

The Ibis' diet of invertebrates - crustaceans, aquatic insects, and the fiddler crab, contains carotene that gives the Ibis its scarlet pigment.

"Their food source was reduced because of the hydrological changes taking place," Shephard said.

She suggested there's a need to study why the Ibis has started to breed again.

"It's quite a reasonable nesting colony that exists at the Caroni Bird Sanctuary."

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