BOLD-ering one step too far

Ronez Quarry had me on speed dial this month. On the 19th, staff found the body of Aude at the asphalt plant. She had become wedged inside the building and likely starved to death. Red and Dingle hold territory at this site. Had there been a confrontation or simply a tragic accident?

Then on the 28^th Dusty and Chickay’s nest grabbed the headlines. One of their chicks had prematurely found its way outside of the building. Staff had been keeping an eye on it and noticed that the parents were not feeding it.

As I drove from my house to the quarry, thoughts of juggling hand-rearing at Sorel whilst doing the 10-12hr days of the Bird Department at the Zoo filled me with dread. Luckily, on a 9 by 5 mile island, I didn’t have to drive for long. And once I had assessed the situation I was a little more optimistic.

The chick looked to be about 4-5 weeks old. He had most likely been bouldering inside the building, hopping in and out of the nest. This morning he ‘bouldered’ a little too far heading down the staircase and on to the floor. A scary place for any chough with cement trucks driving by and gulls flying overhead. The parents were clearly aware of the chicks’ predicament and frequently flew passed to feed the chicks inside the building. They just weren’t prepared to put themselves in the same danger.

I intervened, carefully scooped up the chick, and moved it back inside near to the nest. Glyn then came down to take over observations as Mairi, at Sorel, warned him that the fed parents were heading back to the quarry. We had a camera trap at the ready for when the quarry closed and we had to leave. Not that it was necessary as Dusty flew in after the supplementary feed was put out and fed the chick. A happy end to the day. Hopefully the next time it decides to brave the outdoors the chick will know what its doing.

Zoo news

Penny had started incubating a clutch of four eggs at the start of the month. The first two had hatched overnight and during the 21st. The next chick emerged on the 22nd and the final chick on the 23rd. Amazing achievement for this pair. 

Tristan immediately spoilt the fun by turning on Penny the day the fourth chick hatched. His aggression threatened both mum and chicks so we intervened and put Tristan in a ‘time out’. We moved him to an off-show aviary where he will stay for at least two months, waiting for the chicks to fledge.

Sadly one of those chicks died early on. The other three continue to thrive.

Corbière choughs

More reports of the ‘Corbière pair’ have come in, including one with leg rings colours. This allowed us to produce a shortlist of who they might be. Slight hitch. We don’t have individuals with those specific colour combinations.

The sunlight may have played tricks on the observer. Alternatively one of the missing birds is alive and well hiding out in the south. I tried to follow up on this, but found my other work commitments took over. The pair continue to be a mystery.

Trinity choughs

A pair of choughs are still active in and around Les Platons. Less so at the Zoo. Maybe their membership expired. If the pair are staying closer to the cliffs maybe they have a nest ? Or is lockdown making me delusional?

I’m fully prepared to own the latter. On one ‘chough hunt’, I stepped out of Egypte woods onto the cliff path above Wolf’s Lair to the evoking melodies of bagpipes drifting across the bay. I thought I had finally lost it. Turns out Wolf’s Lair is simply the easiest place to practice your bagpipes without neighbours complaining.

I finally spotted one half of the Trinity twosome on the 12^th.  Returning to my car from a thankless chough hunt, a single chough call caught my attention. The bird was casually flying eastwards from the direction of Wolf’s Lair along the cliffs. It made a graceful U-turn then disappeared out of sight. Are corvids capable of mockery?

Plémont news

Don’t get excited. We still have no concrete nesting evidence or of Xaviour’s status. Beaker and Beanie Baby turned up at the supplemental feed on the 31^st; the first time in nearly two months. Is this a sign of things to come?

Chough catch-ups

Just to outdo last month’s leg ring problems, we had eight birds needing attention in May. Wally had been flying around with a toe caught in a ring since at least the 12^th April. When Glyn tried to catch her on 4^th May she had somehow managed to free the toe by herself. Typical.

Dusty was caught up on the 4^th to free his toe from his left leg ring. Cauvette experienced similar problems having been spotted on the 16^th and was dealt with three days later. Kevin, Lee, Pyrrho, Chewie, and Baie  lost a ring or had one slip under another. All were caught up over a seven day period and fitted with shiny new rings.

Other news

The ‘chough-mobile’ sprang to action once again transporting water to Sorel. Both water tanks at the aviary and inside storage had run dry. As with any garden bird feeder, the ones at Sorel need to be kept clean to reduce the spread of possible disease between choughs and other species. We are now regularly seeing a pair of jackdaw at the aviary as well as the magpie family.

Speaking of cleaning, the choughs have started their annual moult. Lots of primary and secondary feathers to pick up off the floor each visit. It takes roughly 90 days just for the tail feathers to complete their cycle of old to new ones. So expect to see a lot of scruffy birds in the meantime.