Reporting dead bird sighting

Archeron

Hi all
Is it suggested to report sightings of dead birds to anybody? I spotted a large unusual bird dead on the riverbank and I'm not sure if you're meant to report it. This may be bird flu memories I'm having. Bird was black in color, I know nothing about birds, but looked kinda like a gannet
Cheers

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Could be a cormorant. Contact NPWS anyway. No harm in doing so.

Archeron

Cheers!

Base price

Contact DAFM - as per attached link.
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/avian_influenza/

Archeron

Cheers again, reported to both.

dodderangler

Canaan Fierce Mockingbird wrote: »

Could be a cormorant. Contact NPWS anyway. No harm in doing so.

If it's a cormorant then I wouldn't bother. Afaik they are not rung.
Could do with a cull of them anyway

Half-cocked

dodderangler wrote: »

If it's a cormorant then I wouldn't bother. Afaik they are not rung.
Could do with a cull of them anyway

A large number were ringed on Irelands Eye over a few years up until 2010 or so. They can live up to 20 years so there should be plenty still knocking around, always worth checking a carcass for a ring. Some of the Irelands Eye birds moved down to Bray Head and set up a new nesting colony.

OpenYourEyes

dodderangler wrote: »

If it's a cormorant then I wouldn't bother. Afaik they are not rung.
Could do with a cull of them anyway

Essentially, all bird species are ringed so it's always worth checking for rings. As Half-Cocked says there have been plenty ringed on Irelands Eye and even in more recent years they have been ringed on the islands off the coast of Skerries. Keps has photographed a ringed Cormorant on the Dodder numerous times too. Also, if it is a Cormorant, there's the possibility of illegal persecution so it's well worth reporting on those grounds too.

Their numbers, and their impact on fish populations, are both greatly overestimated. Just like when people look out their window and see a Sparrowhawk take a passerine, they're convinced we have billions of Sparrowhawks and that any decline, or perceived decline, in garden birds must be due to this over-abundance of Sparrowhawks. Needless to say that's not the case.

dodderangler

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Essentially, all bird species are ringed so it's always worth checking for rings. As Half-Cocked says there have been plenty ringed on Irelands Eye and even in more recent years they have been ringed on the islands off the coast of Skerries. Keps has photographed a ringed Cormorant on the Dodder numerous times too. Also, if it is a Cormorant, there's the possibility of illegal persecution so it's well worth reporting on those grounds too.

Their numbers, and their impact on fish populations, are both greatly overestimated. Just like when people look out their window and see a Sparrowhawk take a passerine, they're convinced we have billions of Sparrowhawks and that any decline, or perceived decline, in garden birds must be due to this over-abundance of Sparrowhawks. Needless to say that's not the case.

Have to disagree. There's 2 in templeogue at the bridge. No fish around anymore. Dropping well has 3 and if it wasn't stocked there'd be no fish at all left.
They do ridiculous damage to small rivers. And that's a known fact.

OpenYourEyes

dodderangler wrote: »

Have to disagree. There's 2 in templeogue at the bridge. No fish around anymore. Dropping well has 3 and if it wasn't stocked there'd be no fish at all left.
They do ridiculous damage to small rivers. And that's a known fact.

If you took any impartial person and had them walk along the Dodder from Templeogue downstream, and asked them why they think there's no fish there, they'd very quickly point out that it's more artificial than most canals! More concrete than the Port Tunnel, and kilometres of banks infested with invasive species which leads to siltation and a lack of recruitment into the trout population as a result.

Cormorants, Kingfishers and Great-crested Grebes all take fish - it doesn't mean they're having an impact on the population of fish. It's like saying that Sparrowhawks take Corn Buntings, and we have no Corn Buntings left in Ireland so it must be because of the Sparrowhawks.

A quick search of studies on Cormorant impact on fisheries in different parts of Europe doesn't throw up much - some studies seemed to find less salmonids in their diet than they expected, and other studies survey people who perceive cormorants to be a problem, but that doesn't mean the cormorants actually are a problem. I'm sure there are some cases where birds like Cormorants might actually be a problem, but when half of the anglers in the country shout 'Wolf!' at the site of a Cormorant, it'll be hard to tell fact from fiction when a case like that does genuinely arise.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

dodderangler wrote: »

Have to disagree. There's 2 in templeogue at the bridge. No fish around anymore. Dropping well has 3 and if it wasn't stocked there'd be no fish at all left.
They do ridiculous damage to small rivers. And that's a known fact.

Sorry DA but their impact has been shown to be nothing like some anglers believe, and I'm a very active angler myself. Secondly, they wouldn't be there if there was no prey for them. My local haunts have cormorants, heron and otter and the fishing is superb.

dodderangler

Canaan Fierce Mockingbird wrote: »

Sorry DA but their impact has been shown to be nothing like some anglers believe, and I'm a very active angler myself. Secondly, they wouldn't be there if there was no prey for them. My local haunts have cormorants, heron and otter and the fishing is superb.

I've fished all that dodder since I was a kid and I've seen the damage done. I've no reason to lie. They have their place in the food chain fair enough. But I've seen the damage they do. I've seen places without them that are holding good stocks of fish. And then they arrive and there's nothing.

Birdnuts

dodderangler wrote: »

I've fished all that dodder since I was a kid and I've seen the damage done. I've no reason to lie. They have their place in the food chain fair enough. But I've seen the damage they do. I've seen places without them that are holding good stocks of fish. And then they arrive and there's nothing.

A couple of Sea-Eagles would sort out your Cormorant problem DA;)

Archeron

This is the bird if anyone knows what it is. Sorry, it wouldn't upload before. It was a fairly big animal.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Archeron wrote: »

This is the bird if anyone knows what it is. Sorry, it wouldn't upload before. It was a fairly big animal.

Cormorant