Dingle lights may prove fatal attraction for birds

BIRDWATCHERS ARE calling on locals and tourists in Kerry to keep an eye out for young Manx Shearwaters who are coming a cropper on the streets of Dingle and village roadways west of the town, with suggestions they are being led astray by the bright lights of Dingle peninsula.

Conservation organisations suspect public lighting in Dingle and in the village of Baile an Fhirtéaraigh (Ballyferriter) is proving a fatal attraction to the young birds, which spend most of their lives at sea and cannot walk easily on land.

They shun the light itself but its reflection off rain-soaked roadways may confuse juvenile birds into thinking they are landing on water rather than tarmac, the experts suggest.

The Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus or Canóg Dhubh) is a smaller relative of the albatross. They breed in their thousands on the Blaskets and Skellig islands off the coast of Kerry, and the Great Blasket alone has one of Europe’s most important populations of the diving nocturnal bird.

A recent oral hearing into a planning issue was told the island was “a stronghold ”, with a population of over 3,500 birds, one of the largest colonies in the country.

This time of year the young leave the islands to head south for the rich winter feeding grounds off South America. However several young shearwaters have begun turning up under streetlights and are being eaten by cats and run over by cars.

According to environmental officer with Kerry County Council Micheál Ó Coileáin, the birds evolved on remote steep islands and cliffs and are ungainly when taking off from level ground.

BirdWatch Ireland (BWI) point out the Manx Shearwater breeds underground in burrows and will only return to colonies “on dark, moonless nights”. They are nocturnal because they are exposed to gull predation when dragging themselves over the ground and into their burrows.

Already this week two young birds have been found – one in Dingle and the other in Baile an Fhirtéaraigh.

The Dingle bird was reported, collected and released to sea at night by local birdwatchers attached to BWI. However, the Ballyferriter bird was run over.

A spokeswoman for the West Kerry branch of BirdWatch Ireland said the birds are unharmed when they land, but can quickly be killed by dogs, cats or cars.

The branch has asked people who find the stranded birds to contact two experienced local volunteers, who are prepared to keep the birds until weather conditions allow a safe release from a remote headland after dark.

“They are placid to handle. Their parents left them fat and ready for a transatlantic journey so they will be comfortable enough for a couple of days in the quiet of a shed if necessary,” a spokeswoman said.