March
27th, 2019
BirdWatch
Ireland has called on members of the public to engage in a
real-life Pokémon Go game by finding breeding Lapwing birds near
their places of residence.
The
conservation organisation’s new bird spotting challenge for the public is part
of efforts to keep track of breeding Lapwings as their numbers are rapidly
dwindling.
The
survey, funded by the Department of Agriculture, is set to include all
incidences of citizen observations of the bird from across the country.
The
disappearance of breeding Lapwings or Green Plovers is not an isolated case
with the declining number of Ireland’s iconic Curlews being well documented by
BirdWatch Ireland.
According
to a recent
nationwide Bird Atlas study, there has been a 53 per cent decrease in
Curlews’ breeding range in Ireland in the last 40 years.
Lapwings
are also “red-listed” for immediate action on the Birds of
Conservation Concern in Ireland dossier with their
endangered status raised in the Government’s Prioritised Action Framework 2014
to 2020.
Ricky
Whelan, the coordinator for Project Lapwing, described keeping track
of breeding Lapwing as a difficult feat since the species is often spotted in
massive flocks during winter.
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