Category Archives: Breeding

A Busy Weekend

The fine weather has brought a flurry of egg-laying activity.

A Fourth Egg in Nest Three

On Saturday we eggs were laid in nests one, two, and three. (It is likely that the third egg in nest 3 was laid overnight on Friday).

On Sunday, another egg arrived in nest 3, this was first noticed at lunchtime.

Monday brought three more eggs, with additions in nests one and three. Later in the afternoon we had the arrival of the first egg in nest five. This may be a record, as the female in the nest will be nineteen years old this year – making her the oldest known breeding chough.

It gets more difficult to give exact timings, as the females are now sitting on the eggs for longer periods, as incubation begins in earnest.

So, the total at the end of Monday 10th April – nine eggs in four nests, with more on the way…

First Egg of 2017

Just a few days later than last year, we have our first chough egg.

It was laid by the female in nest 3 – she was also the first of our birds to lay last year. She went on to lay four eggs in total. Two of the chicks which hatched were later taken away to be hand-reared.

This female is a seven year-old, and has laid several clutches in the past. Her male partner is a very good parent – taking good care of the chicks when hatched.

2017 Nest Cameras Online

Our breeding birds are now in the seclusion aviaries, and nest-building is under way.

Screen shot of all five 2017 nest boxes.

We have installed new high-definition cameras, which show amazing detail of the activities in the nest boxes.

So far, we have four good nests – all from proven breeding pairs. Nest four is a new pairing, and we are still hopeful of nesting soon.

The female in nest five was hatched in 1998, making her nineteen years old this year! She has built a wonderful nest, and will probably lay a clutch of eggs. The clutch she laid last year was infertile, but she may be used as a foster-parent if the opportunity arises.

The webcam can be seen here.

Birds on the Edge Summer Update

It’s been a busy couple of months here at Paradise Park – however over on Jersey things have been even more hectic.

July Headlines

Fostered chough chicks being fed in release aviary

July saw four chicks being fostered by the “Italian” chough Gianna, before being moved to the release aviary for training and orientation. They were joined by two parent-reared chicks, giving a total of six young birds to join the wild flock.

The wild birds were also producing chicks. Three nests were successfully built, and four wild chicks fledged in all. Last years’ wild male chough Dusty showed signs of maturing early, and was seen making amorous advances.

A wild chough chick being fed by its parent

Full Birds on the Edge July report can be seen here.

August Headlines

All the new arrivals were given time to acclimatise to their surroundings, and their new flock-mates.The youngsters were given some training to respond to the supplementary feeding signals. In August, they were good to go.

Young chough learning how to fend for itself

The new birds quickly adapted, and are now part of the flock. So far, all are doing well, and have been seen taking lots of prey items from larvae to butterflies.

Part of the flock of choughs now on the Jersey coast

There are now thirty choughs in the flock – quite a remarkable feat!

Full Birds on the Edge August release report can be seen here.

A good year for Cornwall’s Choughs

In fact it’s been a very good year for Cornwall’s Choughs!

Chough update from Rare Bird Alert, 5th July 2016

With 23 choughs chicks fledged, the 2016 breeding season has been really successful.

Of particular interest this year:

a pair bred in the Roseland area, probably for the first time since the 1820s
one-year-old birds successfully reared young
there are currently 54 choughs living around the coast of Cornwall

Read more on the Rare Bird Alert website here.

Chow Time

Here is a short clip of two hand-reared chough chicks being fed. The chicks continued to feed like this for almost two minutes, and will do so every two hours for the next four weeks, when they will fledge.

The two chicks were taken from nest 2, after it became apparent they were falling behind their older siblings. The smaller birds were simply being swamped by their older brothers or sisters, and were not putting on any weight.

If we had left these two, they would almost certainly have perished. It’s a small but tough world in a chough nest box.

We had a couple of worrying days, but then the chicks began to recover and put on weight. They have now grown from 22 and 15 grams, to 187 and 181 grams, and will soon be annoying us with incessant calls for food.

Housework…

Here is a short video showing how Mrs Chough keeps the nest tidy.

It’s one of those questions people always like to ask, like “How do astronauts go to the toilet?” or “Why aren’t bird’s nests full of poo?”

In the case of a chough chick, it’s simply a matter of hanging your behind over the edge of the nest and letting go! Mum (or dad) then come along and take the poop away.

Quite often the adult female will stimulate the chick, by gently prodding the chicks rear end. The chick then produces a faecal sac, which the adult bird then disposes of away from the nest.

This serves two useful purposes – firstly it keeps the nest clean and free from a build-up of toxic waste, and secondly it keeps the location of the nest a secret. Some predators will home in on the build up of waste around a nest.

Ten Chicks So Far…

Our breeding choughs have now produced ten tiny (and not-so-tiny) chicks, with possibly more to come!

Four week-old chough chicks in the nest

All of the eggs in nests 1- 3 have now hatched (no eggs in nest 4). There were two infertile eggs in nest 1, which is unusual for this pair, as they have been very productive in the past.

Nests 2 and 3 have four chicks each. The chicks in nest 3 are now seven and eight days old. The nest 2 chicks are between two and four days.

Nest 5 still has five eggs, which are due to hatch this weekend.

The picture above is taken from the access door, which is used to monitor the young birds. At the top of the image is Alison Hales who goes in to the aviary to distract the adult birds, and to add to the large quantities of live food in the aviary.

The birds have learned that Ali brings lots of bugs (mini-mealworms, crickets and ant eggs), so it is a positive experience for them.

There’s an App for that!

How do you use a smartphone to help feed a chough chick?

Simple. We record the sound an adult bird makes when they call to the chicks. The chicks use this signal before their eyes are open. When the parent calls, the chicks beg for food – if hungry.

When we need to do any supplementary feeding (in this case, a smaller chick), we simply play back the call, and the chick begs for food.

We are giving the smaller two chicks in nest 3 some supplementary feeds for the next few days, just to help get their weights up to a similar level to the older chicks. As you can see, the older chicks are not particularly hungry.

The rattling and clanking, and whistles in the background come from Ali. She is in the front of the aviary keeping the adult birds distracted.

Day Old Chough Chicks

Here is the first picture of the first nest of this year’s chough chicks. (Nest three).

Three chough chicks just over 24 hours old

We have designed the nest boxes in the breeding aviaries with a small inspection hatch at the back. This allows us to monitor weights, give supplementary feeds, and occasionally medication.

While the birds are distracted by someone, usually Ali, going into the front of the aviary with food, I can use the opportunity to open the hatch to carry out my secret duties. The adult birds tend to hide in a small space on top of the nest box while this is going on.

We get the birds used to these intrusions before any eggs are hatched, by using positive reinforcement. The adult birds associate a person coming into the aviary as a good thing. Person equals food. This makes our disturbances much less stressful for all concerned, except for Ray and Ali.