Sligo Bird Images - March 2010


	Image © Ulrike Schwier 2010
31st March 2010: This Sparrowhawk was photographed through a window when it visited a Raghly garden


	Image © Mícheál Casey 2010
22nd March 2010: This Barnacle Goose is another regular visitor to Sligo. She was ringed as an adult female on the Inishkea Islands off Co. Mayo on 18th November 1998 , and was aged as at least three years old which would make her about 16 years old.


	Image © Mícheál Casey 2010
22nd March 2010: Ringed pair of Barnacle Geese (with darvic rings reading VHS & VJA) at Ballintemple, Co. Sligo. Most Barnacle Geese pair for life, and this pair (imaginatively known as VHS and VJA) have been together for years, and regularly seen at Ballintemple & Lissadell each winter. These birds, together with the rest of the Barnacle flock, will shortly begin their hazardous journey to eastern Greenland to spend the short arctic summer on their breeding grounds.

Images © Mícheál Casey 2010

19th March 2010: Eastern-type/Nordic Jackdaw on main Sligo-Bundoran Road at Mullaghnaneane (from Mullach na nÉin - the ridge of the birds!). These photos show how much the appearance of the pale collar was affected by the bird's posture. As well as the pale collar, this bird shows the breast mottling which is a feature of this Nordic subspecies (Corvus monedula subsp. monedula/soemmerringii).

Video Clip © Mícheál Casey 2010

19th March 2010: Eastern-type/Nordic Jackdaw foraging along the main Sligo-Bundoran Road at Mullaghnaneane, Cashelgarran.

Click above to play.

Image © Conor McElhinney 2010

10th March 2010: Ravens soaring near Beltra

Images © Conor McElhinney 2010

10th March 2010: Buzzard photographed near Beltra

Images © Mícheál Casey 2010

10th March 2010: Female Goosander at Ballysadare

8th March 2010: Cormorant in breeding plumage at Doorly Park

5th March 2010: Red Grouse in the Ox Mountains

2nd March 2010: Greenshank at Finned, Ballysadare Bay, near Carney

'CONALL' FOUND POISONED ON TRUSKMORE MOUNTAIN

2nd March 2010: Golden Eagle 'Conall' found poisoned on the Sligo/Leitrim border.

Confirmation came today that 'Conall', the wild Irish-bred Golden Eagle that spent the past few months in the Glencar valley was found dead on Truskmore Mountain on the 18th of February - see photo above with Sligo & Sligo Bay in the background.

The 10 month old eagle chick was born and reared in a Donegal eyrie in 2009. The bird had spent the last four months wandering the beautiful mountains above Glencar Waterfall, Lough Gill and Gleniff. This male eagle was named Conall after "Tír Conall" - the Irish name for Donegal. Local people and children in Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim had been watching and following its regular movements on the project website (www.goldeneagle.ie).

Lorcán O Toole from the Golden Eagle Trust said, "This issue is about the illegal use of poison within Irish farming. We believe the few hundred farmers using poison illegally are at variance with the huge environmental advances Irish farming has undergone over the last ten years. We have always fully acknowledged the support and co-operation of the sheep farming community in the Northwest and continue to do so. But unfortunately the poisoning this Golden Eagle, undermines the image of Irish food and weakens the potential for local tourism and damages the fragile rural economy in the Northwest, we believe."

Gardaí in Sligo Town have begun their investigation.

The Golden Eagle Trust press release is here

The RTE news item, with farmer reaction is here .