The movements of three Irish cuckoos are being tracked this year as part of conservation efforts to better understand their decline and safeguard their future.
Minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan is encouraging members of the public to follow the Irish cuckoos on their summer migration to Africa.
Using satellite technology, the ‘Cuckoo Tracking Project’ will trace the routes of three cuckoos.
These are Cuach Sean from the Wicklow Mountains National Park, Cuach Rua from the Burren National Park and Cuach Cores from Killarney National Park.
“I’m encouraging everyone to keep an eye and see which routes they’re taking, how fast they’re travelling, where they end up,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“Armed with greater understanding, we will be in a better position to protect the beloved Cuckoo, so that generations to come can enjoy the sound of the cuckoo for many more summers.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s News At One, Conservation Ranger with the National Parks and Wildlife Service Sam Bayley said “unfortunately, we do not know a great deal about the ecology of cuckoos and how they work”.
Listen: How you can be part of the cuckoo tracking project
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“We know a great deal about what they do when they are here in Ireland, but we don’t know anything else,” he said.
The aim of the project is to track them to find out where they go, how long they spend in various areas, as well as to identify the key areas where they forage, feed and spend the winter.
He said Cuach Cross from Killarney was tagged in 2023 and has done three journeys to and from Africa since then. Both Cuach Sean and Cuach Rua were tagged this year.
“They are currently all on the move,” he said, adding that Sean is in the Italian Riviera, while Rua is in Wales. All three return to Ireland every year, Mr Bayley said.
He said each of the tagged cuckoos travel to Africa via Italy and cross down to the Mediterranean and onto the Sahara Desert by Libya. Following this they spend four months of the winter in the Congo River basin.
“It seems all the cuckoos, from as far west in Ireland to as far east in China, all go to the Congo to spend the winter,” he said.
Their journeys can be followed on the website of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).