Living in cloud cuckooland

WHAT’S being described as a “remarkable” response to a cuckoo survey underway in Clare, reflects a growing interest in nature and wildlife.

Since the survey started in mid-April, up to 260 sightings have been reported, though it should be pointed out many such sightings may be of the same bird, according to John Murphy, of Clare County Council biological records office.

“Reports of sightings are coming in every day and we’re delighted with the remarkable interest people are showing. We’re starting to build up a picture of the actual cuckoo population. Next year, we’ll see if the birds return to the same area,” he said.

The Burren is regarded as a stronghold of the cuckoo, but indications are the bird is dispersed throughout Clare. A man in the Kilmayley area, for instance, recently reported being kept awake by four cuckoos on a single night.

It’s the male that calls. That they are so vocal at night may be attributable to the fact that cuckoos migrate nocturnally and that’s the time they stand the best chance of attracting a mate. So why not make their presence felt after dark? Evocative early summer sounds comes from the cuckoo — surely one of the most recognised voices of any of our birds. Indeed, the cuckoo is heard far more often than seen.

Last week, I awoke to the unmistakable sound echoing from elevated ground near the tip of the Inishowen Peninsula, in northern Donegal, repeated over and over. A rare enough delight on a bright summer morning these days. Unusually, the sound came with absolute clarity from furze-covered moorland just a few hundred metres from the village of Ballyliffen.

There are also reports of cuckoo calls above Castleisland, as you head towards the Lyrecrompane peatlands, and parts of the Dingle Peninsula.

However, the cuckoo has largely disappeared from counties Cork, Waterford, Wexford and Limerick, where there has been extensive land cultivation. Many reasons are put forward for the decline of the cuckoo. Climate change, migratory problems and loss of habitat may all be factors.

Pressure from expanding towns and villages, with new housing, industrial and retail developments means that scrub-fringed, waste ground, where the cuckoo and host birds, into whose nests it places its eggs, has disappeared and been built upon.

Spruce plantations and forestry development have also squeezed out the cuckoo, experts believe.

Cuckoos leave their sub-Saharan winter home to reach the southern Mediterranean by March, then move north to their breeding grounds. They arrive from mid-April, with most reaching us by mid-May.

The males do not need to set up territory like other birds and simply “sing” to attract a mate. The female will also lure a male with her own bubbling, chuckling call.

After mating, the female searches for a suitable nest and foster parent to raise her chick. She could spent days flying over an area, looking for birds building nests. Once a nest is unattended, she scoops out the host’s eggs and replaces it with her own egg.

Cuckoos can select from a number of small birds to host their young, including wren, meadow pippet, stonechat, sedge warbler and robins.

Female cuckoos are genetically disposed towards an individual host species. So, a female cuckoo that was fostered by meadow pipits will return to her natal habitat to lay her own eggs in pipits’ nests.

Adult cuckoos are among the earlier of our summer birds to depart. With no responsibilities to raise their young, they don’t hang around. Most are on their way by late June or early July. Young cuckoos leave about a month later, fully fledged but never having seen their parents.

Ringing records have shown that they take a south-easterly route across Europe, into northern Italy where they stop to feed before a single trip straight across the Sahara into eastern Africa, where they are thought to spend the winter. Such trips could be as long as 2,000 or 3,000kms.

Amazingly, the young cuckoo is instinctively able to migrate alone, without any adults to show the way.

The decline of the cuckoos may be linked to a fall in numbers of host species, such as dunnock and meadow pipit. While they are now on the Amber List of conservation concern, their continuing decline makes them possible candidates for the Red List, the highest conservation concern.

Meanwhile, anyone that hears, or sees, a cuckoo, in Clare, is asked to record the date and location and inform staff at the biological record centre, at Clare County Council, in Ennis. Tel [phone], or email: [e-mail].