Cuckoos in the East

Context

Catch and satellite tag 5 cuckoos from different mountain ranges/bogs (east of the River Shannon) and compare their migration routes (and over-wintering location in Africa) with those already tagged and monitored from Killarney NP and the Burren.

This iconic harbinger of spring was found throughout Ireland until the 1950’s when a combination of habitat loss, fluctuations in prey species (hairy caterpillars) and the downward fortunes of its host species (particularly Meadow Pipits) began to accelerate. While the species is still common in the mountains and bogs west of the Shannon; its loss has been most acute from the lowlands and particularly in the east of the island where, aside from birds heard calling briefly while on migration, this is now a species that is rarely encountered with any regularity (outside a few core areas). 

Cuckoos are migratory, travelling to sub-Saharan Africa each winter and so the fate of this species at a regional level is also at the mercy of the habitat loss, prey species fluctuations and/or host species abundance and distribution in countries within its wintering range; and also, at the mercy of much more widespread potential threats such as climate change and the frequency of extreme weather events.

Interestingly (or alarmingly) the cuckoo’s distribution has changed also. Cuckoo numbers are down by 70 per cent in England since 1995. Yet they are up by 54 per cent in Scotland between 1995 and 2018.