Monday,
August 20, 2018 - 12:00 AM
By Richard
Collins
The
curlew is in trouble; a BirdWatch Ireland census found only 150 breeding pairs
here in 2015-16, a 97% reduction in numbers since the 1980s.
The bird
is still common in winter but the ones you see on Irish wetlands are mostly
visitors from Britain and mainland Europe.
Keeping
an eye out for curlews, you might come across what appears to be a very
dark-coloured one, with long legs trailing behind the tail in flight. Don’t be
fooled; despite having the characteristic down-curved bill, this isn’t a curlew
but a glossy ibis.
On the
Outdoors page, some years ago, we speculated that this exotic creature, which
breeds in the eastern Mediterranean Africa and the Middle East, might become a
‘regular’ winter visitor here, rather than a mere ‘vagrant’.
Sightings,
since then, have been encouraging. According to the latest report of the Irish
Rare Birds Committee, about 46 ibises visited us in 2016. They were seen in 12
counties.
The
numbers, although slightly down on the 2015 total of 53, are unprecedented. As
Colin Barton, compiler of the report, remarked; “the invasion continues”.
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