THERE was plenty of drama in two ‘chickflicks’ set in West Cork this week as live cameras captured eggs hatching in bird nests.
Dubbed ‘Nestflix’, more than 30,000 views have been clocked up on the National Parks and Wildlife Service livestreams of the nesting choughs, with one camera in the roof of a farm shed in Clonakilty, and the other in a specially-made chough box on Mizen Head.
Four chicks were hatched in the Clonakilty nest last week while five hatched in the Mizen, though one chough fledgling did not survive.
The birds are born blind, and have been witnessed ‘allofeeding’, where the parent places the food down the throat of the open-mouthed chicks.
‘The fledglings will stay in the nest for four or five weeks before they fly the nest,’ NPWS district conservation officer Clare Heardman told The Southern Star. She said that as the weeks go by, the young choughs will begin to look more like the parents but their bills and legs will be paler than the distinctive red of the adult chough.
Choughs are listed as an endangered bird species under the EU Birds directive, Ms Heardman said. There are around 900 pairs of chough breeding in Ireland, with 30% of the national population found in Co Cork, which has four special protection areas for these birds.
Ms Heardman encouraged viewers to tune into the chough livestreams and said sightings of the birds can be reported to the NPWS, at [email protected].
The choughs have been capturing viewers’ attention on the livestream, and now they will be hitting the airwaves, as Derek Mooney will be doing a special live broadcast from West Cork on his Nature on One show on RTÉ Radio One on Bank Holiday Monday at 3pm.
And the choughs are now competing for airtime, as a pair of peregrine falcons have made Clonakilty their home.
NPWS installed a nest tray in the steeple at Clonakilty Parish Church to study the resident pair of peregrine falcons.
Clon is renowned as a foodie haven, as the falcons have discovered. ‘They get most of their food supply locally and bring it back to the church steeple where they eat while enjoying the sights and sounds of Clonakilty,’ said parish priest Fr Tom Hayes, who captured the duo on his own camera too.
The NPWS installed their cameras in the steeple, which are not livestreamed, but allow them to monitor the birds’ behaviour.
