Old to new pairs A fairly big surprise to the team this year was Danny and Jaune both experiencing a successful breeding season; but separately! Danny and Jaune were always seen as a pair in previous years. Always arriving together at the aviary and seen flying and building nests in various places in Corbiere. However, this year, both choughs paired with a different bird in the flock. Danny paired with Pyrrho after the loss of Green and Jaune paired with Aspen after Danny re-paired. Danny and Jaune had been seen building nests as a pair for two consecutive years with no real success. It could be that the pair lacked maturity, or perhaps Danny & Jaune were never truly a pair; maybe they were just close friends after all!
Aspen & Jaune with two hungry chicks at Corbiere. Photograph by Julie Blampied.
Another first! Another fantastic surprise this year was from another new pair Alder and Wally Jnr, who were seen with one chick on 13th July at the aviary. This is the very first breeding attempt for both of these birds. Both parents hatched in the wild, Wally Jnr in 2021 and Alder in 2022. The team have watched these two choughs grow closer over the past year; often observed arriving at the aviary together as well as allopreening. Over the course of the breeding season they were often absent at the aviary and so we had been hoping they were practicing their nesting abilities. When they showed up with a begging youngster in tow, we couldn’t have been happier! Since carrying out catch ups at the aviary to ring the remaining chicks they’ve become quite elusive, which isn’t surprising – who would want to be caught anyway!?
What the choughs think of all the catch ups. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
A plaque of gratitude A plaque has been hung on the aviary to acknowledge our gratitude to the Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme for funding the chough project. Their funding has enabled us to replace the old holey netting and wooden aviary framework.
Our bright plaque to show our gratitude to the Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Breeding season summary This year’s breeding season has been a huge success! We’ve had the greatest number of chicks hatched since the project began; a whopping 26 chicks from ten breeding pairs. Three of those pairs were first time breeders! Only six chicks of those chicks didn’t fledge, making our overall fledging success rate 77%. It’s safe to say that the aviary has been pretty chaotic this summer. All 20 ‘choughlets’ have been ringed and added to our chough ID list, which can be found on our website ‘Chough ID list’. Our current island population stands at 66 choughs! 12 of the original captive-released choughs and 54 wild-hatched choughs. So, if you enjoy walking around Jersey’s countryside and bird watching, be sure to report your sightings via this link: ‘Seen a chough? – Birds on the edge’.
Sakura, a chough from Minty & Rey’s clutch with their identifier rings attached. Black for the year and Cerise as their individual identifier. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Table 1, each breeding pairs fledgling success.
Breeding pair
Number of fledged chicks
Dingle & Red
0 – nest
Lee & Cauvette
2
Percy & Icho
2
Kevin & Wally
2
Trevor & Noirmont
2
Dusty & Archirondel
0
Danny & Pyrrho
2
Bo & Flieur
3
Minty & Rey
2
Pinel & Vicq
2
Aspen & Jaune
2
Sallow & Portelet
0
Alder & Wally Jnr
1
Total number of fledged chicks
20
Where have you seen the choughs? During July, most of our chough sightings across the island have been in various places in Grosnez; with groups of up to five seen either near the castle, near the car park or along the cliffs. The second most popular area has been Corbiere; one group being a family group (Aspen, Jaune and their two choughlets) whose photograph can be seen above. Other sightings were seen across St Ouens, St Brelade and St Helier.
In August, the choughs were reported in Corbiere the most, once with a flock of 12. Second most popular sights were recorded from several areas in St Ouen, including Mont Matthieu, St Ouens pond and around the sea cliffs. Large groups were also seen flying over the cliff paths of Crabbe and Devils hole. On the other side of the island choughs had also been spotted. In Noirmont, a pair is regularly spotted by a local twitcher.
September brought the most consistent sightings of two choughs at Noirmont. However, the place seen with the largest flocking number of choughs were in Corbiere with 16; closely followed by 12 spotted over Petit port. The choughs were also seen across St Ouen, Crabbe, Les Landes, Greve de Lecq, Overdale and St Helier.
Our chough student (Phillip), gaining some hands-on experience with the choughs. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Brand new netting Last year, the Government of Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme provided funds for us to purchase new netting for the Sorel enclosure. Durrell’s Site Services team were tasked with erecting it before the fledging season and did a sterling job; not only replacing the netting but also some of the inner wooden framework. In just over a week, they managed to replace the lot! The last job left is to replace the front wooden framework and hatches at the end of the flight, and this will be done after the summer.
Aviary construction in process by Durrell’s Site Services team (Ben and Kieran). Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Plemont pair The pair of choughs which nest at Plemont (Minty & Rey) were visited by the team on 22nd April. Rey (the female) was sat on the nest, so we knew from first glimpses that she was already likely to be incubating. When Minty arrived at the nest, she shuffled to the side allowing Minty to feed something other than her! This was a great indicator that they had chicks in the nest. Our next visit was not until early May. We had received some reports from Jersey residents about a pair of choughs chasing and/or mobbing ravens at Plemont and did not fill the team with confidence. Last year, when they were seen chasing off other birds – they had lost their chicks, likely due to predation. On our next visit to the nest, the team witnessed the pair chasing a raven in flight along the beach! Shortly after, they were then both seen going to the nest, where they were greeted by five noisy chicks of approximately 10 days old! With this many chicks to feed, they will be a very busy pair this year!
Minty standing over his five hungry chicks! Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
New feeder stands One of our outer feeding stands fell apart in one of last year’s storms. With other stands beginning to show the test of time, the Durrell Site Services team kindly made new ones. While they were reconstructing the aviary framework and fitting the new netting, they brought the new feeding stands to the aviary to be used where necessary. The first stand to be erected was the outermost stand which stands in one of the sheep fields; thankfully no sheep were in this field while the stand was being dug in. Once the stand was up, the choughs spent no time flying over to check it out!
It was not long before the choughs came to investigate the new stand. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Initial Ronez quarry visit Before the initial visit to the quarry, the team did not know what to expect regarding breeding pairs and nest locations. Generally, the choughs will nest in the same spot every year. However, since the passing of Green & Chickay, the breeding pairs this year have had a ‘jig around’. Green’s previous partner (Pyrrho) has paired up with Danny and Chickay’s partner Dusty has paired up with Archirondel. The team were not sure if these new pairings would find a new nesting place as a pair or if they would continue using their previously used nesting spots. From our limited observations, we found that both nest locations remained active this year.
So why do we carry out a quarry walk around? It gives the team the opportunity to look at accessible nests to gauge when chicks will need to be ringed at the nest. When going for the quarry walk around on the16th May, five healthy and hungry chicks were seen in two nests – all the other nests were inaccessible without hiring equipment.
What else did we see on our initial quarry visit? Well, Red & Dingle’s nesting spot had a lovely nest in the nest box, although there were no signs of any other activity apart from a lot of footprints in the dust around the inner building. Kevin & Wally were seen to have three chicks in their nest, and they were judged to be approximately 10 days old. Trevor & Noirmont had two chicks at least a week ahead from Kevin & Wally’s nest. We also glanced into Dusty & Archirondel’s as well as Lee & Cauvette’s nests. Both had built nests however it was unclear whether they had anything inside. Judging by the approximate ages of the chicks we had seen and our own observations, we selected an appropriate date to ring chicks.
Kevin and Wally’s chicks at the initial quarry walking visit. Photograph by Tobias Carabet.
What we do at Ronez Two members of the Durrell chough field team, a licensed ringer, and this year, a PhD student studying the choughs, all attended Ronez quarry on 25th May to ring the ‘choughlets’ at the nests. Quarry manager, Tobias Carabet gave up his time to enable us access to the nests around the site using a hired cherry picker. The chough team are given a special license to disturb, handle and ring the choughs in Jersey. This allowed us to examine the chicks in the hand, gather morphometric information and put identifying rings on their legs. For 2024, the chicks are being named after cheeses. Their year colour ring will be black, and another colour above will be their individual identifying ring. After being processed, they were placed back into their nests, to be fed by their impatiently waiting parents. The team carry out this task every breeding season and the breeding pairs are used to ‘what is happening’ when we arrive.
How the chough beaks are measured. Photograph by Harriet Whitford.
What we saw at Ronez While the majority of chicks were around 20 days old, we had a few pairs who were a few weeks behind! A total of 12 chicks were seen at the quarry this year, only nine of which were ringed as three were too young. There were two nests which were not accessed in the quarry: those belonging to Dusty & Archirondel and Danny & Pyrrhos. To date, we are uncertain as to whether either pair have produced offspring. Red & Dingle’s nest was beautifully made much like every year, however, there was nothing inside! Dingle has also been seen spending a lot of time with Iris, so this might be a new pairing in the making.
Charlotte and Tobias accessing nests in the cherry picker. Photograph by Harriet Whitford.
Breeding pair Lee & Cauvette had three chicks this year – one of which was smaller than all the others. This did not surprise us as we had recently sent our Veterinary Department a faecal sample after Lee was looking a bit ropey a few days before our ringing event. The faecal result suggested coccidia. Coccidia is parasitic and affects the gastrointestinal tract where it reproduces; it is then excreted and spread through faeces. Choughs generally carry a low level of coccidia in their system, but it can be heightened during breeding season when stress levels are higher. Lee has since perked up and we are hopeful that all three chicks will survive. Percy & Icho had two chicks who were the oldest chicks seen on our ringing visit. The larger of the two weighed in at 285g! Kevin & Wally had only two chicks in the nest which surprised us as there had originally been three. The larger chick weighed in at 275g, but the other chick weighed only 225g! Bo & Flieur had three of the youngest chicks and due to their small size, processing was limited. Trevor & Noir had two chicks in their nest, both approximately 25 days old. All in all, a successful ringing visit.
PhD student (Sam) assisting the Durrell chough field team (Charlotte & Harriet) at Ronez. Photograph by Cris Sellares.
Plemont pair It is very clear to see from the team’s observations at Plemont that this pair started their season at least a week ahead of the oldest chicks we saw at the quarry. Throughout the weeks of observations, we did unfortunately find one of the chicks deceased directly below their nest missing a head! The chick was taken for a post-mortem as it looked quite fresh and upon so, was acknowledged to have died from impact. It is likely that it was pushed out the nest and scavenged by a predator after its fall. Thankfully all four of the remaining chicks still looked happy and healthy, and at least two of the chicks were seen fledging by 1st June.
Plemont chicks almost fully grown and getting harder for adults to feed & fend off! Photograph by Paul Pestana.
Table 1, A list of breeding pairs, where they nest and the number of chicks we’ve seen at the end of May.
Nest location
Breeding Pair
Number of chicks
Ronez Quarry
Dingle & Red
0
Ronez Quarry
Lee & Cauvette
3
Ronez Quarry
Percy & Icho
2
Ronez Quarry
Kevin & Wally
2
Ronez Quarry
Trevor & Noirmont
2
Ronez Quarry
Dusty & Archirondel
Unk – inaccessible
Ronez Quarry
Danny & Pyrrho
Unk – inaccessible
Ronez Quarry
Bo & Flieur
3
Plemont
Minty & Rey
5
Unknown
Pinel & Vicq
Unk
Corbiere
Aspen & Jaune
Unk – Young pair
Unknown
Sallow & Portelet
Unk – Young pair
Unknown
Alder & Wally Jnr
Unk – Young pair
Total number of chicks known at end of May =
17
New and young pairings New breeding pairs Dusty & Archirondel, Danny & Pyrrho and Vicq & Pinel’s nesting knowledge is still unknown to the team. Excitingly though, all three pairs have indicated nesting and incubating behaviour from our observations so we will patiently wait for chicks to arrive at the aviary! We have three suspected younger pairs in the flock (Aspen & Jaune, Sallow & Portelet and Alder and Wally Jnr) which have been seen arriving together for the supplementary feed every day prior to the breeding season. All three of these pairs consist of males from last year’s wild hatches (2023), which means they might not be sexually mature; it can take between 1-3 years for choughs to reach maturity. However, younger males that pair with older females have been known to produce chicks in the past therefore these three new pairs could have breeding potential this year. We will keep a watchful eye over these pairs but it’s already evident by observations that at least one or two of the pairs could be incubating. The team will ‘watch this space’ in the hope for a fruitful breeding season.
Danny & Pyrrho’s family portrait. Photography by Charlotte Dean.
An impatient wait June arrived and the chough team seemed to be waiting impatiently for the first batch of chicks to arrive at the aviary. We knew they had left their nests but there was no sign of them at Sorel. Minty & Rey were the first to bring two of their healthy chicks to the aviary. Arriving on12th June, this was the latest we have seen chicks arrive in a few years! The second pair to arrive were Danny & Pyrrho on 21st June, with two chicks. This is the very first breeding attempt for this pair and we are delighted they have been successful! They were closely followed by Kevin & Wally with two on the 22nd. Much to our surprise, Percy & Icho brought their two chicks later (24th June); this pair had one of the oldest chicks on the quarry ringing visit. Trevor & Noirmont brought two chicks to the aviary on 25th. Lee & Cauvette as well as Vicq & Pinel both brought two chicks to the aviary on the 26th. And lastly, Bo and Flieur arrived on 29th with two of their chicks. So that’s 16 chicks seen at the aviary so far! It’s safe to say that the supplementary feed has become a bit noisier!
A glimpse into the chick chaos at the aviary. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Red-billed choughs are considered a rare species in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man and north west France and, until recently, were classified as locally extinct in the Channel Islands. Changes in agricultural practices decimated their habitat and primary food source, resulting in their rarity. Several other bird species have suffered a similar fate.
Birds On The Edge is a conservation initiative to restore coastal farmland habitat in order to benefit these species. The chough (caûvette in Jerriais) is the flagship for this work and in 2010 Durrell began a captive-breeding programme with the intention of releasing offspring into the wild.
Intensively managed releases between 2013 and 2018, coupled with post-release monitoring and care have resulted in a highly successful reintroduction. The Channel Islands is home once again to a breeding population of choughs.
Notable Events and Successes in 2023
The majority of our breeding success in 2023 centred around our pairs nesting in Ronez Quarry. Interesting observations were noted when checking the nests at the site. There were many more nest spots than usual; which suggested to us that others, perhaps younger choughs, were practicing for when they are mature enough to pair-up and breed. It will be exciting to see if our predictions come true in 2024!
Kevin feeding a chick on the aviary. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
We recorded 18 chicks in nests within Ronez quarry during the year and one from another location which will be ‘assessed’ in the next breeding season. Fifteen of the total 18 chicks fledged to the aviary. Ten of the 18 chicks are still alive to this day and only two chicks out of the 15 that were blood sexed were male. This being said, due to an issue with the laboratory we use to sex birds, we have nine birds that are currently unsexed and who will remain so until they show breeding behaviour in the future. Given the historic sex ratio skew favouring females, we’re hoping that in 2024 a few more males will be produced.
Table 1, indicating the current population size along with the flocks known sex ratio.
Our only ‘wild-hatched’ pair attempted to nest in a stable during 2023 but were unsuccessful in their endeavours. They subsequently returned to Plemont where they have nested before. While it is believed chicks were hatched, sadly they were never seen at the aviary, suggesting they perished.
The pair of chough that have successfully nested at Simon Sands Ltd. were seen nest prospecting in out-buildings at the airport. This behaviour was dissuaded on health and safety grounds. It is hoped they return to the safer location of the old sand extraction site in 2024.
Impatient choughs awaiting supplementary food. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
Breeding pair Vicq & Pinel surprised the team this season. They brought one chick to the aviary at the very end of July. This is the first time (to our knowledge) this pair has had a successful breeding season. While there were initial reports of them nesting in a stable building in Trinity, they subsequently chose to nest somewhere else, the location of which is currently unknown. We hope that this will be the start of a successful breeding pair for the future.
The flock has lost a total of nine individuals over the course of the year, but has gained ten new members. Of those choughs that have disappeared, their partners have re-paired up and we hope to see some new successful breeding pairs next season. Overall, it has been a successful year.
Activities in 2023
Primary activities continued as detailed below:
Supplemental feeding
Provision of supplemental food continues daily at Sorel. Attendance by the flock varies seasonally and between individuals. It remains a reliable way to ascertain population size. There are currently forty-seven individuals of which over two thirds are now wild-hatched (Released: 13: wild hatched: 34).
Supplemental feeding allows staff to closely monitor health issues and inter-flock behaviour. Concerns can be flagged up quickly and often dealt with on the spot.
Notable leavers and losses
After forty years of service at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Dr Glyn Young hung up his boots for the last time in August. He will be enjoying the retired life after much dedication to the Trust. His wisdom and knowledge will continue through the next generation of conservationists who all benefited from his experience.
A picture of Liz and Glyn when the project began!
Sadly, we lost the oldest chough of the flock and one of the two remaining choughs from the project’s first releases back in 2013. Green, although gone has contributed to the population by siring forty-two chicks over the past twelve years; fifteen of which are still alive today.
Green & Pyrrho enjoying the summer heat. Photograph by Charlotte Dean
Research and monitoring
There have been no exciting island-hops for the usual, same-sex pair of choughs to Guernsey this year. Usual visitors to the island, this pair appeared to have broken up, with only one female being observed foraging at Pleinmont. The other female has now found a male worth sticking around for! This could lead to an exciting new breeding pair in the next coming year.
There a few visits to Ronez quarry this year to undertake nest checks. Only two clutches of chicks were ringed in the nest however, as inclement weather prevented other nests being accessed. Subsequent ringing was carried out when youngsters were caught at the aviaries, but three remain unringed at present.
Three chicks in Kevin & Wally’s nest. Photograph by Tobias Cabaret.
We look forward to 2024 when we welcome a PhD student from Anglia Ruskin University to research the choughs for effects of sound disturbance during the breeding season.
Veterinary cases
One of Kevin and Wally’s chicks from last year’s season (Sallow), was found grounded by a local birder in St John. Initially taken to the JSPCA, Durrell ultimately took responsibility for the bird. It was suspected to have a broken coracoid due to the visual bruising in the area; however, this was thankfully not the case. The chough was also seen to have a low platelet count and was underweight. The veterinary team supplied the chough with pain relief and fluids. The Bird Department provided the diet previously used for the captive choughs. Additional food supplements and tasty treats were given to help fatten him up. In our care, the chough gained 20 grams before he was taken back to the aviary. Before being fully released, we had a licensed ringer, ring the chough and then shut him into one of the sheltered sections of the aviary. He was kept here for a few days to habituate once again to his surroundings and for staff to evaluate his flying ability. Once the team were happy with his progress, he was re-released and is still looking happy and healthy to this day.
The remains of a youngster from 2022, Birch, were found at Ronez. Scant remains were collected, so no post-mortem was performed, but rings allowed us to identity it.
Release aviary maintenance
The Sorel aviary is considered a temporary structure for official planning purposes. Permission to keep the structure standing for the next five years was approved in 2023, which means it will be standing until at least 2027.
Storm Ciaran left devastation throughout the island in 2023 and the aviary at Sorel sustained significant but not catastrophic damage. Large holes were ripped in the netting, and aluminium panelling at the side of the aviary was ripped off. Some of the wooden support structures of the enclosure itself were also left weakened and broken.
The aviaries fallen wooden framework. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.
The aviary netting holes require National Trust assistance to help bring our large henchman ladder to the aviary to have the holes reachable to fix. We are working on these repairs between the National Trust and our own staff availability. The wooden framework is a much bigger job which will be fixed at a later date by our maintenance team at Durrell.
Choughs flying over the aviary. Photograph by Abbie Thomson.
In autumn, we secured a grant from the Government of Jersey’s Countryside Enhancement Scheme to fund new netting for the aviary. Thanks to the States of Jersey for this funding, which will enable us to replace the damaged netting in 2024.
The choughs have been busy ‘behind the scenes’ resulting in a record-breaking breeding season. By the end of June, we had found four active nests with a total of ten chicks. We knew four chicks had hatched at the end of May. We didn’t have to wait long before Ronez Quarry sent photos of a second nest with chicks.
Dusty and Chickay’s nest with three chicks safely tucked away in a quarry building. Photo taken under license by Toby Cabaret.
This nest belonged to Dusty and his partner Chickay: an astonishing and heart-warming sight. This was their third season nesting, finally they had chicks, and from the looks of things they were at least three weeks old.
The icing on the cake is the uniqueness of the coupling. Chickay was hand-reared, proving that our choice of methods worked, and Dusty is himself a wild-hatched chick.
Ronez hired equipment to access the chough nests under license. Photo by Liz Corry.
A site-visit was arranged for 16th June when the quarry was not in operation. Ronez hired a cherry picker to access the nests. What we found was a mixed bag of good news and bad news. Some nests had failed, some succeeded beyond expectations. And then one complete surprise; a nest we had no idea about.
This nest contained one chick approximately four weeks old. We also noticed twigs in a nest-box we had put up in 2014. This is the first time the birds have tried to use this box. Either they decided it wasn’t a suitable place to continue or the pairing just didn’t work out.
The table below aims to answer any queries the dedicated reader has about which pairs succeeded.
Pair
Bred before?
Nest status
Green & Black
Yes
empty
Dingle & Red
Yes
empty
Kevin & Bean
Yes
3 chicks
Dusty & Chickay
No
3 chicks
Q & Flieur
Yes
empty
Lee & Caûvette
Yes
2 chicks
White & Mauve
Yes
empty
Trevor & Noirmont
No
no nest found
Pyrrho & Percy
No
empty
? & ?
–
1 chick
Total
9 chicks
However it also throws up a few queries, like “didn’t Kevin and Bean have four chicks in May”? Yes they did. Sadly one is no more, probably the runt of the clutch, but to have three chicks still alive and well is a first for Jersey’s choughs.
The nest belonging to Lee and Caûvette was found to contain two chicks. Photo by Liz Corry.
You might also be tempted to ask “does the mystery chick not belong to Trevor and Noir“? That, dear reader, is something I still don’t have the answer to a month after the site visit. And one that is driving me insane so lets return to June 16th; life was simpler then.
We had taken a licensed ringer into the quarry with us so we could ring the chicks and get DNA samples for sexing. This is supposed to be done when the chick is around three weeks of age. Clearly from what we were seeing these chicks were older. We did not want to risk disturbing them for fear they prematurely left the nest once we put them back. It is a long way to fall!
That is ok, we thought, we can just ring them once they reach the aviary. We can see which adults feed them and work out ownership that way.
How naive we were.
Fledged chough chicks reach the aviary
Below is a montage of footage taken during the supplemental feed once the chicks had fledged. Imagine having a baby that can fly and walk and scream for food whilst doing said actions. Then multiply by two or three. That is what it’s like for a chough parent for the first few months. Note how loud the begging starts off then trails away. Always lingering, never stopping.
From appearances, Chickay was not keen on parenthood. She left most of the feeding duties to Dusty. One of our daily reports records an observation of Kevin “karate kicking” a chick in response to the constant in-your-face begging. Quite often at the feeds you would see chicks accidentally push the parent off the food-stand or shelf in the frenzy to beat its sibling to the food on offer. You also saw them beg at non-breeding individuals who looked more than a little perplexed by the situation.
Throughout all this, the three newbies (Han Solo, Chewy, and Skywalker) remained locked in quarantine in one half of the aviary. We could not attempt to catch-up and ring the wild chicks until the three had been released. That was scheduled for July.
All we could do in the meantime was try and figure out how many chicks each set of parents had. Lee and Caûvette made things easy as they continued to visit Les Landes and Grosnez, taking their chicks away from the mayhem for a few hours each day. We knew both of their chicks seen on the 16th had survived and arrived at the aviary the last week of June.
Family portrait: Lee and Caûvette with their two chicks at Grosnez. Photo by Mick Dryden.
Lee with his two noisy chicks. Photo by Mick Dryden.
Dusty and Chickay were tending to three chicks (well Dusty was at least). They would take them back and forth between Sorel and the south-east corner of the quarry. Initially there was concern over one of the three chicks as it looked relatively lethargic. We put this down to the heat and that it could be the youngest, struggling to keep up. Dusty was always very sensible, taking his chicks into the shade to rest.
Dusty and Chickay keeping their chicks in the shaded parts of the quarry. Note the chick lying down next to dad whilst the other two preen next to mum. Photo by Liz Corry.
Kevin and Bean‘s three also made it from nest site to Sorel. However, they made it a little harder. Most of the time their chicks were kept around Sorel Point. Often out of sight, but not earshot.
View across the quarry from Sorel Point. Photo by Liz Corry.
Then the mystery deepened. Q and Flieur turned up to the supplemental feed with two chicks. “But their nest was empty?” you cry. Yes, yes it was. “And the surprise nest only had one chick in it?” you answer back. Yes, yes it did.
The Plémont pair
Earl and foster-reared Xaviour, or the Plémont pair as we call them, are still roosting out at Petit Plémont. Their amazing choice of nest site has made it impossible to tell exactly what they have been up to this breeding season. We did suspect, from the couple’s behaviour out of the nest, that the female was incubating eggs.
Earl taking a break on the WW2 bunker ruins at Petit Plémont. Photo by Liz Corry.
One was seen carrying something white away from the nest. An optimistic observer thought it was a faecal sac. These ‘sacs’ are produced by chicks and carried away from the nest by the parents. He changed his mind when he saw the adult pecking away at it. The white object started to look more like an egg, but smaller than a chough egg. Out of reach of the observer, we will never know the true-identity of the object.
In the days the followed, hope of a successful nesting attempt began to fade. Xaviour was spending more time away from the nest. Foraging around the headland and neighbouring cliff tops to feed herself rather than take back to an expectant nest.
The pair are young. This year should be taken as a positive step forward in their development. They remain the first pair to set up a territory away from the release site. As they mature they will no doubt see success with their nest.
Star Wars saga continues
Han Solo, Chewy, and Skywalker continue to adjust to life at Sorel whilst in quarantine. Faecal samples from the two Paradise Park birds tested positive for nematodes.
Staff began to hear sneezing from the confined group a week or so after their arrival. Nothing to cause alarm, but enough to warrant a wormer pre-release.
This was scheduled for 20th June. On the 17th the Bird Department received a call to say that there were only two choughs locked in the aviary. Skywalker was missing. Scanning the aviary, it became apparent that he had not used Jedi mind tricks to escape. He had in fact managed to squeeze out through a hole in the netting, no doubt created by rodents.
He was not with the free-living choughs at Sorel. Well not in plain sight at least. The following day he couldn’t be any more obvious if he tried. Skywalker was on the roof of the aviary alongside Zennor a young female.
Since the boys arrived at Sorel, Zennor has shown a keen interest in them. She sits, on the opposite side of the netting during every feed whilst everyone else is tucking into their meal. We thought her interest was in Han Solo as they had touched bills through the netting; fiction becoming reality? Alas, it was Skywalker she wanted which worked to everyone’s advantage as he had another chough to follow, returned to the aviary, and we managed to get him safely back inside.
Return of the Jedi: Skywalker shortly after being trapped back inside the aviary. Photo by Paul Pestana.
All in time for the vet to visit on the 20th, give all three a wormer, and fit Han Solo with a transponder chip just like all the other captive-bred birds have. Bird Department staff also kitted them out with shiny new leg ring combos to make it easy to tell them apart once released.
Luckily the States Vet agreed that no extra time needed to be added to their quarantine period. Once complete, at the end of June, they can be released.
May the force be with them.
Aviary maintenance
Despite the recent rodent-proofing at the release aviary there are still weak points in the defences. As exemplified by Skywalker’s escape. Without a major overhaul of the aviary design there is not much to be done.
Mind you, that overhaul may come sooner than imagined. The shelving has now warped so badly that bolts keeping the hatches closed no longer reach. The hinges on the external keeper door snapped right off due to rust.
This is the first year the pre-release group have not had full access to the flight tunnel in a bid to avoid further premature releases. Once the new boys have been released and settled into life at Sorel we can start repair work.
Supplemental feeds
The choughs have seen a few changes to the menu this month due to food shortages. There is still no Remilline pellet in stock in Jersey, so the egg-based diet returned to the menu. The live-food manufacturer has been experiencing issues with their mealworm stock resulting in fewer or no insects being delivered. Not the best of timing. We had to increase the amount of supplemental food this month in response to an increasing demand. Obviously with mouths to feed, the breeding pairs become more dependent on the aviary feed.
Lights, camera, action
Ronez Quarry very kindly funded young film maker Sam Hertzog to fly to Jersey and produce a short film about the chough reintroduction project. Sam had four days to try and sum up the last five years into a seven minute documentary. To make the challenge that little bit harder we threw in rolling sea fog, a field manager dying of hay fever, and birds that never paid attention to the script.
Sam succeeded. You can view his film below. We are very grateful to his friend Elin Cunningham for proposing the idea and for being the boom operator, gaffer, assistant director, chauffeur….
One of this year’s wild-hatched chicks arriving at the aviary. Photo by Liz Corry.
By Liz Corry
Fledging news!
Previously on Choughs…cue theme music…On 27th June Beanie baby was the first of four wild chicks to appear at the aviary with parents, Kevin and Bean, by its side.
Six days later another chick arrived. Unringed, but accompanied by Green and Black, and sneezing and wheezing, so it wasn’t hard to determine which nest it came from. It wasn’t hard to find a name for the new chick either. Lil’ Wheezy, who clearly wasn’t well, but it had made it to the aviary, so it’s odds were looking up.
A wild-hatched chick arrives for the first time at the aviary with parents begging for food. Photo by Tanith Hackney-Huck.
The third chick made an appearance on 5th July. We knew which nest it came from because of we could see pink and black leg rings. We didn’t know who it’s parents were. Well, not until it started guzzling food down its throat provided by Lee and Caûvette. This meant that our Les Landes pair had been travelling 9km away from their nest and the group finding food for their chick.
The news of this chick also means that another of our four hand-reared choughs has successfully bred in the wild; Dingle (fathered two in 2016), Caûvette and Bean. Poor Chick-Ay has yet to find a dedicated partner.
The fourth and final chick was spotted flying around the quarry on 6th July. Again, we knew which nest it was from, but did not know the parents. Two days later we were in for a pleasant surprise. Q and Flieur, a new pairing, led their chick over Sorel Point to join the flock feeding at the aviary.
This now brings the total number of free-flying choughs in Jersey to 38. Almost a quarter of which were wild born in Jersey. There is a video of the group in flight on Jersey Zoo’s Instagram page or just click here if you don’t have an account.
Lil’ Wheezy gets wormed
We needed to worm the sick chick that was now visiting the aviary twice a day. It couldn’t be done straight away. We needed the chick to become accustomed to flying in and out of the aviary in order to trap it inside. It took a good week for Lil’ Wheezy to grow in confidence and fly all the way in at each feed.
A wild fledgling caught up under licence to treat for nematodes. Note the bill colouration due to its young age. Photo by John Harding.
Patience paid off on the 19th when the team were able to trap it inside and catch under licence. Dave Buxton fitted leg rings and the Vet gave it a wormer before being released back to it’s parents and the rest of the flock.
Classic reaction to a vet holding a needle. Photo by John Harding.
MSc project wraps up
Guille finished collecting data for his research at the end of this month. He now has the delight of returning to Nottingham Trent University to make sense of it all. I will let Guille explain in his own words…
“Birds, and other animals have personalities. Consistent behaviours that are different between individuals, maintained through time and favouring -or not!- the survival of the individuals and their successful breeding.
Studying the boldness-shyness continuum in choughs. Photo by Liz Corry.
With the choughs I am looking at a classical behavioural trait: the boldness-shyness continuum and how it might affect survival.
Basically, if you are a bold bird you may be good at defending your food patch from others, get stronger and healthier and be able to feed your nestlings properly. However, if you are a very bold bird that would not leave the food patch even when there is a falcon approaching, you are in serious trouble.
I want to see if we can predict how far the released choughs will go to find food everyday just by looking at their personalities. Some studies have already shown that boldness has an effect on habitat use and distance travelled, which may be useful in a project like this one, where every bird is highly valuable and the distance they will travel will increase the chances of finding more food, or getting lost! If a correlation is found, it would help the project team to select which birds should be released depending on what behaviour is best to assure survival in the area.
Does Lee’s personality type predispose him to travel several kilometres away from the release site to feed? Photo by Mick Dryden.
For assessing their boldness, I presented them a squirrel-proof bird feeder that they had not seen before, as they have their daily supplementary feeding in open trays. I recorded the latency of each bird to pick food from it for the first time, during 15 minutes. After that, they were given their daily meal and I would not repeat the test until approximately ten days later, so they would not get used to it. Finally I gave every bird an average boldness score based on how long they took to pick food for the first time.
This year’s wild chicks were clearly not shying away from the feeder. Photo Guillermo Mayor.
Assessing the distance travelled was the fun part, as they had lost their radio tags. I had to become another chough and follow the group during their morning stroll. They leave the roost by 5am, returning for the 11am feed. I learnt lots about chough behaviour in the field. I saw their games, love arguments, gang fights, first trips of their chicks, but still they are very complicated birds.
By the end of July, after having cycled every single track of the north coast, I had a bunch of observations, from which I would pick the furthest point from the roost I saw each bird. Some of them were a bit surprising, such as Trevor and Noirmont. I found them perching on a German WW2 cannon, south of Les Landes. They looked like nobody could mess with them. I would definitely keep an eye on those two.
The two and a half months passed too quickly and I wish I could have stayed longer. The support I received from the project staff was amazing, and I would definitely recommend anyone that has cool ideas that would help the project and the broad bird recovery knowledge to think about doing some research here.
I am currently in front of the computer, missing the field and the choughs, and for now it seems that the boldness was consistent, which is good news! I really hope I can come back soon and see the noisy choughs again soaring over the windy cliffs, and all the lovely people who were like a family for a summer.”
Birds On The Edge wins a RHS award
Birds On The Edge received a Silver award in the conservation section of the annual ‘Parish in Bloom’ event, a hugely popular and well supported national floral competition held under the professional auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Glyn Young met the judges and Mike Stentiford on Sunday 23rd July to show them around Sorel to see the grazing flock of sheep, conservation crop fields, and the choughs. Although only two choughs showed up!
