Killarney crows are caws of concern

Killarney Town Council has asked Dúchas, the heritage service, to implement a programme immediately to control the number of …

Killarney Town Council has asked Dúchas, the heritage service, to implement a programme immediately to control the number of Corvidae in Killarney National Park.

The council believes the caw of the crow has ousted the call of the songbird.

Grey crows, magpies, rooks and Corvidae of all description have proliferated recently in the park, the council told Dúchas.

Cllr Pat F. O'Connor, who tabled the motion, believes the large number of Corvidae has led to "a marked absence of birdsong" in the park. To remedy the situation, he wants their numbers controlled.

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"I remember one lamentable occasion when I rose early to hear the dawn chorus only to be greeted by the odd chirp and tweet, which disappeared completely as one travelled away from Muckross House," said Cllr O'Connor.

There is, he claims, a direct link between the absence of songbird and the large number of Corvidae in the park.

"The corvids prey on the song-birds to such an extent that the songbird has been eliminated from large tracts of the National Park," he said.

BirdWatch Ireland has dismissed the claims that members of the crow family are responsible for the alleged demise of the songbirds.

"Magpies do feed on songbirds but only in spring during the breeding season," said Mr Declan Murphy of BirdWatch.

The most dangerous predator for songbirds, from thrushes to blackbirds, was the household cat, he said. "The cat is four to five times more deadly than any magpie. The cat kills all year round." Crows, like all birds, were protected, he advised.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Killarney National Park said the reason there were large numbers of crows in the park was the presence of large quantities of horse-dung from the hundreds of jarvey and riding-school horses which used the park daily.

"There are rich pickings of oats, wheat and corn from the dung of the well-fed horses," the spokesman said. "This is what is drawing the crows." He could not confirm if there were fewer songbirds in the park.

The council has been trying for some time to encourage jarveys and others to put horse nappies on their animals, but to no avail.

A year ago the council stopped short of introducing a by-law for such equine devices.