People on the coasts of Donegal, Sligo and Mayo are being asked to listen out for the call of the corncrake bird as they returned to Ireland this week.
John Carey of the Corncrake Life Project told RTÉ’s Countrywide that field workers are confirming reports of the now rare bird in full voice, although sightings of them close-up are “highly unlikely”.
Mr Carey said that males make the call to declare the territory to attract females and to tell other males this is their patch.
The population here is increasing slightly and the range of the call the birds make is beginning to expand from the islands of Connemara, Mayo and north and west Donegal and now in Sligo.
He said that his organisation is appealing to people to contact them to try to put measures in place to protect them as last year only 197 males were recorded, but the birds are extremely rare and threatened.
Read the full report on www.rte.ie
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