gyre falcon killarney

dodgyme

todays indo

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A rarely sighted falcon has been brought ashore in Co Kerry -- hundreds of miles south of its natural territory.

The bird was identified last night as a gyre falcon, a bird of prey whose normal habitat is Greenland and the northern regions.

The exhausted bird landed on a French-registered fishing vessel 120 miles west of Ireland five days ago, and the mainly Spanish crew nursed it to recovery.

However, when they released it, the bird returned to the 'Illumbe' and refused to fly off into the ocean.

On landing at Dingle port yesterday, the crew handed it over to marine expert Kevin Flannery, who is based in the town.

Mr Flannery said the bird was more eagle than what was popularly thought of as falcon -- it had large talons and was a powerful bird.

"It's a beautiful creature," he said.

Mr Flannery was last night feeding the bird raw meat and keeping it in a box in his home until it was collected this morning by Dr Allan Mee, the raptor specialist in charge of the reintroduction of the sea eagle to the Killarney National Park.

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wonder how the story will develop?

gversey

Yeah me too, very interesting

boneless

I have heard a number of reports of this type over the years. I think the last one was about seven years back. Birdwatch Ireland featured it in their magazine "Wings" as far as I remember.

dodgyme

has anyone an update on this. I saw a pic in the paper about a week after where the bird wouldnt fly off so they kept him on again, but that was the last I heard.