Tag Archives: Cornwall

35 years of Operation Chough at Paradise Park!

To celebrate the 35th birthday we thought we would take a look back in time…

Red-billed Chough at Paradise Park
Red-billed Chough at Paradise Park

In 1987 Operation Chough was officially launched. Much work with Red-billed Choughs had been done at Paradise Park and the Tropical Bird Gardens, Padstow (now closed), before this time. Paradise Park’s founder, Mike Reynolds, became very interested in choughs and the first birds came to the Park in 1973. They were captive bred and originally from Welsh stock. This date was very sadly also the time when the last wild birds from the original Cornish population disappeared after decades of decline.

Much of the early work at Paradise Park involved developing breeding methods and improving aviary and nest box designs. Although we preferred to have parent-reared chicks, this also involved hand-rearing some, which proved to be extremely difficult, but some successes were achieved.

Chough chick getting a health check
Chough chick getting a health check

Nest boxes were fitted with inspection hatches and cameras to monitor eggs and chicks – this proved to be invaluable.

Parent Chough feeding chicks on nest camera
Parent Chough feeding chicks on nest camera
Chough chick being fed and weighed by Ray Hales
Chough chick being fed and weighed by Ray Hales

We produced a ‘Red-billed chough captive management and husbandry manual’ and a version of this was published in Zoo Biology with lead author Dr Malcolm Burgess.

Back in 1987 we sponsored a five year long study by Richard Meyer on the feasibility of the re-establishment of the chough in Cornwall. As well as researching historic sites in Cornwall, he used chough populations in Wales for much of his research.

A trial release of captive-bred birds took place in 2003 on the north coast of Cornwall.

In 2010 we developed a partnership with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, where Red-billed Choughs had been extinct for over a hundred years.

Initially two pairs bred at Paradise Park had been flown to Jersey for the breeding and release project, and by 2013 a total of eleven birds.

First Class flight to Jersey
First Class flight to Jersey

Birds bred at Paradise Park and at Jersey Zoo were released over 6 years. Within 2 years they had bred in the wild and now there are 43 birds, about half of them hatched in the wild.

Two released choughs enjoying the Jersey breeze
Two released choughs enjoying the Jersey breeze

Our focus now is on establishing new release projects in southern England. We are working with partners in Kent (choughs used to live along the white cliffs of Dover), also the Isle of Wight and Hampshire coast. In the long term these have the potential to spread along the coast, join up and re-establish the chough in parts of England where it has been missing for two hundred years.


Chee-ow!
Chee-ow!

Fostering and Feuding

Fostering…

Our five nests produced fifteen eggs. Eight of these have hatched and all eight chicks are doing well – after a couple of hiccups…

On May 10th, we noticed the third chick in nest five was very small (16 grams), and in danger of being pushed to the bottom of the nest by its siblings. There were four overdue (infertile) eggs in nest three, so we decided to foster the small chick to this nest. The female in nest three was still patiently sitting, and she was expecting to see eggs hatching. We gave her what she wanted.

Chick from nest five being put into nest three along with egg shell
Chick from nest five being put into nest three along with egg shell

We put the chick in the box using the hatch at the back – Ali was in the aviary putting in live food and distracting the adults. The parent birds both went on top of the nest box, as they have been conditioned to do.

As well as the chick, we added a piece of egg shell. This mimics real-life events, and the normal reaction of the female should be to come in and take the egg shell away. If she did this, we would know that she would accept the young chick as her own.

Female removing eggshell - Success!
Female removing eggshell – Success!

As soon as Ali had left the aviary, the female returned to the nest and very gently removed the shell. Moments later, the male hopped into the nest to inspect the new arrival and left. The female then came back in and started to brood the chick. Success!

The chick is now over two weeks old, and is progressing well – getting food from both parents, and gaining weight.

Feuding…

Events were not as joyful in nest two. On the evening of May 15th the male parent became very agitated and started to attack the female – and the three young chicks. Luckily, we had spotted this while monitoring at home, and decided something had to be done.

Male attacking female and chicks in nest two

It was getting dark, and soon we would not be able to get into the aviary without disturbing all the other nesting pairs nearby. However, staff were on hand (staying on site due to the lockdown), and got in quickly to catch the male. He spent the night in solitary confinement, and was relased the next day into the large polytunnel group.

On checking our records we found this male had done exactly the same thing in 2015 – on the exact same date – very bizarre!

We believe male choughs at this time of year are “pumped up” and ready to spend sixteen or more hours a day searching for food in the wild. This is something we try to replicate in the aviaries by hiding food, giving the males some distraction.

Nest Totals

Nest 1 has two chicks. One egg did not hatch

Nest 2 has three chicks. One egg did not hatch. Mister chough has left home.

Nest 3 has one adopted chick from Nest 5. Four eggs were infertile.

Nest 4 has no eggs.

Nest 5 has two chicks (plus the third which is in Nest 3). One egg did not hatch.

Total to date is eight chicks, most being two weeks old.

First Egg for 2016

The first chough egg for 2016 has been laid!

The female in Nest 3 was seen sitting in her beautifully-built nest just after 5pm on 31st March. Over the next 20 minutes she sat, straining a bit as she produced the egg, and then recovered for a few minutes before going outside. The image above shows her mate coming into the nest to check out the egg, gently touching it with his bill.

The first chough egg for 2016 is laid in Nest 3.

The first chough egg for 2016 is laid in Nest 3.

In 2015 the first egg of the season was laid by the same pair at lunchtime on 1st April, so they are just about a day ahead this year.

We’re looking forward to lots more eggs, and then lots of early mornings and long days to provide food for the chough families.