Category Archives: Paradise Park

2019 July Breeding Report & Round-up

Possibly, not one of our best years for chough breeding at Paradise Park. However, the lack of choughs bred in captivity here has been eclipsed by the success of the new population on Jersey, and the wild birds in Cornwall.

Paradise Park
Here at Paradise Park, although we had plenty of eggs, four of our five pairs did not produce chicks. The honours were once again taken by nest number one, which produced three chicks – all of which are males. These have now been moved out into the large 30 metre flight \ socialisation aviary, where the youngsters are getting used to life in a flock. The young birds are now very similar in size and colour to the adults, the main difference being the paler bill and legs. (There is, of course, a difference in behaviour – they tend to follow their parents, begging for food. The parents do their best to ignore them).

Two young choughs in a larger group of adult birds. Picture R Hales. — Two young choughs (front left) in a larger group of adult birds. Picture R Hales.

Jersey
The news from Jersey is very encouraging, with the population steadily increasing. This year there were 13 pairs building nests. Most of the nests were close to the release site at Sorel, or in the quarry nearby.

However, one pair did raise a chick away from the release site, and with no interaction at all with any feeding stations. This chick could be regarded as the first truly “wild” chough chick produced so far, with no support from the release program. The parent birds have managed to find feeding sites of their own.

The 13 nests produced 13 chicks in total, with most nests reaching egg or chick stage. More news can be found on the Birds on the Edge website.

There were also two parent-reared choughs produced at Jersey Zoo (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), adding to the potential of the captive breeding program.

Cornwall
The ongoing resurgence of the chough in Cornwall continues. This year there were 12 successful breeding nests, which produced 38 fledged choughs in total.

The resident birds are now spreading around the coast, and can now be seen from The Lizard all the way round the coast as far as Newquay. The location of the nests is still subject to a degree of secrecy. Large groups of choughs can now be spotted regularly in West Cornwall. The current population is now close to 100 birds.

This is excellent news for all involved in the monitoring and conservation work. More news can be found at the Cornish Choughs Twitter feed.

May 2019 Breeding Report

At the end of April, four of the five chough nests had eggs. Nest 4 was a ramshackle affair, but a good attempt for a new pair. Of the other four nests, only one pair laid fertile eggs – our “go to” pair in nest 1. The totals are as follows:

Nest 1 – three eggs, all fertile. Three chicks hatched
Nest 2 – two eggs, laid in partially finished nest. Both eggs broken.
Nest 3 – four eggs, all infertile. Female incubated but eggs thrown out by parent.
Nest 4 – no eggs.
Nest 5 – Three eggs, all infertile. Female incubated, then removed eggs.

Our hopes for this year are all on nest 1, and the three chicks are now two weeks old. However, the nest is already starting to fall apart – something which normally happens after four weeks, due to the movements of the “teenage” chicks inside.

Three chough chicks being fed by parents

The nest box now contains more rocks than before. This is due to some quick rebuilding by myself, as the young birds were seen to be scrabbling about on the floor of the box. This is not good for younger birds, as their feet may not develop properly.

We decided to intervene, and made the nest space smaller by adding four small rocks to the front of the box. This was done during one of the daily weighing sessions – where Alison goes into the aviary to feed and distract the birds, while I sneak the chicks out of the inspection hatch. The parent birds then return, and continue to feed the youngsters. I think the female was slighty suspicious after the rocks had been installed, but the drive to feed overcame any fears.

We also added small twigs in a lattice pattern, to allow the chicks to grip onto something. This is easier to do, and the parent birds accept this much more readily.

We have repeated this, with rocks being added to the sides. So far, so good…

The chicks are weighed daily, and the weights can be compared with results we have built up over the years. During the first week a daily percentage increase of 20% to 30% is not uncommon, which gives an indication of the remarkable rate of growth.

In the second week, the rate slows to between 10% and 15% per day. As can be seen in the image above, the chicks now have their eyes open, and are beginning to “feather up”.

The two chicks hatched a day before number three, will always be at an advantage. They will always be heavier, and their eyes opened first – a huge advantage at feeding times.

As an example, the weights today (May 22nd) are: 179g, 146g and 123g. Our strategy to overcome this, is to give the smaller birds supplementary feeds when being weighed. This gives them every chance to catch up with the heavier bird.

The third week now moves into monitoring for potential infections and gapeworms…

April 2019 Breeding Report

The first chough eggs of the year have been laid. After a staggered start all five pairs have built nests. The new pair (nest four), were slow to start, but have now caught up.

Female chough about to lay egg number two - note the male in attendance. — Female chough about to lay egg number two – note the male in attendance.

The first eggs were laid in nest number three on April 13th and 15th, followed by more on the 17th and 18th. Nest number one was filled with three eggs on April 15th, 17th and 19th. Nest number five was last with three on 21st, 23rd and 27th. Unfortunately, two eggs were laid in nest number two, but were broken – the nest had not been completed, and the eggs broke against the nestbox floor.

Nest number three, with a clutch of four chough eggs.

We were approaching the point where we would “candle” the eggs to see how many were fertile. Unfortunately, the female in nest number three had other ideas…

Yesterday Morning – April 30th – we came in to find only two eggs in nest number three! The female had gently removed two of the eggs early in the morning. At 11 o’clock she removed another, and we went into the aviary to investigate.

We found the two eggs. Both were infertile. Both were also very pungent. Obviously, the female had realised the eggs were not going to hatch, and took them out. She removed the final egg overnight, and this too was infertile.

So, our current tally is six eggs. We are still hoping that the birds in nests four and two will lay. The birds in nest number two may go through another cycle, as can be the case when the initial cycle of egg laying is not quite right.

All Fledged

July 5th 2018

The 2018 breeding season has now officially ended, as all the chough chicks have left their respective nests.

Empty chough nests -nothing to see here

As the eggs were laid at different dates, it would seem obvious that the chicks would fledge at different dates. There are other factors, such as parental care, numbers of siblings, and (in the wild), availability of food.

We know from previous records and observations, that the parents in nest number one are very capable – and have in fact “fostered” chicks when their own eggs have failed. The chicks from nest number one were indeed the first out. The first chick accidentally bumped out by an adult on June 18th. The other two siblings followed on June 21st and 23rd respectively.

The singleton in nest number four was out next on June 24th. In theory, this bird should have been the first to fledge, as it was getting all the attention from both parents. However, we had noticed that the female in nest four tended to overbrood, or sit on the chick – which meant the male could not feed the youngster.

Finally, the chicks in nest number two emerged on 26th, 27th, and 28th of June, and July 1st. Sadly, one of the chicks was found dead in the aviary on 28th of June. However, the other three siblings are now practising short flights, and teaching themselves how to hunt for prey.

So our total “choughage” for 2018 is seven new birds, which is more we expected given the terrible weather at the start of the season, and the fact that there has been a mealworm shortage for the last six weeks.

All the chicks follow their parents, still begging for food. However, they are not getting too much attention from them. They do go back to the nest boxes from time to time for short naps, and also to roost. (The chicks, not the adults).

I did watch a chick in nest number two play with a feather in the nest. It poked and prodded it, then proceeded to start adjusting some of the twigs. A hopeful sign for the future..?

Counting our “Chickens”

May 8th 2018

“Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”, the old saying goes. Today was our day to do just that. With choughs.

The first of the five clutches is due to hatch at the weekend. The weather is now much better, and generally warming up, so it was time to see how many of our thirteen eggs are likely to hatch.

All five females sitting tight on their clutches of eggs.

This is a fairly simple procedure, using the light from a mobile phone to “candle” the eggs. Ali goes in to each aviary, to add food and generally rummage about in order to distract the adult choughs. I then open the inspection hatches, hand the eggs to keeper Becky Waite, and she checks to see if they are fertile. (I have passed this job over, due to my remarkable inability to notice fully formed chicks inside the eggs).

The birds had been late getting into the aviaries. The weather has been horrible, both before and after the birds have been installed. Winter was nasty, and spring has been wet.

As previously posted, two of our pairs are now quite old, and were infertile last year. We were not expecting great things.

But great things occurred – all thirteen eggs are fertile. This includes two eggs from a female who is twenty years old!

A good day at work.

It’s Building Time!

April 4th 2018

The chough nest box webcams are now live – click here. (The link does work this time!)

The almost-continual rain has now stopped, and our birds are building in earnest.

Birds building in all five boxes.

We are now into the stage of supplying the nest aviaries with materials. We start with large twigs, then move on to smaller twigs and heather.

In a few days time we will be adding moss and lichens – finally finishing with horse hair.

May Breeding Update

The chough breeding season is going well here at Paradise Park. So far we have only lost one chick this year. The second chick in nest three died just after hatching – giving an indication of what a traumatic experience breaking out of an egg can be.

We now have three nests with two siblings and one with a solo chick. This gives the parent birds every chance to rear the youngsters, while we closely monitor weight gains and general health. If a chick falls behind, we can give it a boost with supplementary feeding and medication where necessary.

Two chough chicks being weighed

However, the youngsters have kept us on our toes. The larger chick in nest five suddenly started “stargazing” – it’s head folded almost flat over its back. Very worrying. We gave it a course of antibiotics, along with gapeworm treatment and vitamin supplements. The head stayed in the same postion for two days, with the parent birds somehow managing to feed it. Then overnight, the head returned to normal position, much to our amazement.

We had a further scare when the younger chick in nest two had one eye closed, and did not open it even when being handled or fed. Once again, a course of antibiotics soon had it back to normal.

“Stargazer” looking casual and back in nomal health

Most the chicks are now above 200 grams in weight, and it is at this point that we stop taking regular weights. One practical reason for this is that the chicks are beginning to get highly mobile, and when put back in the nest start climbing around.

Another reason is that their feet are now fully developed, and have unbelievably clinging claws. Sometimes trying to get the birds out of the nest can mean pulling some of the nest material out along with the chick, resulting in potential damage to the nest or chick.

We have noticed that the nests this year seem to be less robust than normal – possibly as a result of the birds being put into the aviaries at a late date (due to bird flu movement restrictions).

This is the first year we have seen the chicks sitting on the floor of the nestboxes, on the wood of the box itself. This could lead to the chicks having splayed or deformed feet.

The solution – the Trump Toupee! Once the birds were large enough, we slipped a coir mat underneath, giving them something to grip on to. (We did not do this when they were too small, as there was a risk of the parents pulling the whole thing out – along with the chicks.

Two contented chicks – “Stargazer” and sibling – and Alison

Egg Swapping Time

So far our choughs have laid sixteen eggs this year – and there may be more to come from nest four.

Given the ages of some of our breeding birds, we have taken the step of checking all eggs laid to see how many potential chicks to expect. We quickly took the eggs in turn from each nest and tested them by “candling”. (These days we don’t hold the eggs up to a candle, but use the LED light from a smartphone).

A stunning clutch of five eggs

The results were slightly disappointing – with only the eggs in nests two and three being fertile. However, as all the pairs have taken such great time and energy to produce nests, we decided to share the fertile eggs into the infertile nests. We would then put the infertile eggs back in to replace the fertile ones taken. This meant that each successful nest would only have to rear two chicks, spreading the load on the parents.

Five nests, sixteen eggs – possibly with more to come.

Each of the laying pairs now has two fertile eggs to deal with. Two chicks have hatched in nest three, but sadly the younger chick died almost immediately after hatching.

Nest five also has a chick, with another expected to hatch soon. Both sets of parents are doing very well, taking turns to feed the tiny chicks. Hopefully, in the next few days all the remaining fertile eggs will hatch. The infertile eggs will be left in the nests for a few days, as they act as good heat stores when the females are off the nests.

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.