Room 11 Blog

Spioróg (irish)
Resident with occasional winter visitors from continental europe.

It is a small bird with thick wings but very blunt tips and long tail.It has a small blunt beak which is used to catch its prey easily.The sexes are different as the males is way smaller than the female.The males colours are grey half way up to the brest,brown at the top.The female is brown up to the breast and grey the rest of the way round.

Call: The main call for the sparrowhawk is rapid high pitched chattering and is usually heard in the breeding season.

Diet: it attacks with one leg or both legs. It can easily fool its prey aby leaning to the left and turns to its right just at the last second to catch its prey.They can also catch its prey by going very close to the ground near ditches.

Golden eagle’s mostly eat reptiles, small birds and fish. They raraly eat deer. There territories range up to 60 square miles. Golden eagle’s top speed is 150 miles an hour. Golden eagle’s are dark brown with lighter golden brown plumage on their head and neck.

The buzzard is a large resident birds from Britian during the winter.

Its a medium sized raptor ( bird of prey) with broad wings, short neck, a compact body and  medium length. Has a short hooked bill suitable for eating meat often seen sitting on fences and telegraph posts or soaring high in the sky, where it shows a fin shaped tail and spread outer wing feathers.

Breeding birds are found mainly in the north and east of the country.

You can see them in Co. Donegal  the main stronghold of the species in the republic.

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The Merlin is an Irish bird of prey with a sharp, curved beak. It is the smallest type of falcon and has the same shape as a Peregrine, it also has relatively narrow wings and mediem sized tail. It is nimble in flight and will pursue its prey for an extended amount of time.

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The Marsh Harrier is recognized by their long and narrow tails,long legs and wings held in a “v” in flight.The Marsh Harrier has broad rounded wings,members of the Genus Circus(latin) possess an owl-like ruff or facial feathers that disguises very large ear openings.Marsh Harriers are usually connected with wetlands.Breeing happens in reeds ,sedges and in large reed beds.Hunting  occurs at a height of 2-6 metres above.It hunts over farmlands,bogs,fens and marshes.It became extinct in Ireland as a breeding  as a breeding species in 1917,however sightings of adult birds in breeing areas.Its name in irish is Clamhàn Mòna nò Cromàn Mòna.An adult male is a striking grey black and brown colour,a female is dark brown with a creamy white crown and throat.They are very rare in Ireland.

Golden eagle’s mostly eat reptiles small birds and fish. They rarely eat deer.Their territories range up to 60 square miles. Golden eagles top speed is 150miles an hour. Golden eagles are dark brown with lighter golden plumage on thier head and neck.

A  bird of  prey [raptor]  with a short hooked bill. A  species of  falcon  with a heavy powerfully built body. The female is  larger  than the male. Male and female  plumages  are the same.

Call: mainly silent away from  its breeding site.

Diet: Mainly birds, usually taken in the air and sometimes on the ground or on water. It seems likely that birds reach  at least 240 km/ hour, making it the fastest animal on the planet.

The merlin is the smallest species of falcon.

The merlin eats small birds such as the skylark.

The merlins call is silent except around its nesting site.

You can see the merlin in the wetlands.

The merlin is a rare nesting bird because it nests on the ground in the moorlands,mountain and blanket bog.

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Kestrels are small birds of prey with long wings.

They have small bill for eating meat.

Males have blue – grey head and grey tail.

Females are brown head with steaked tail.

Call, Repeat quickly a series of short sharp notes.

They eat mainly small mammals, voles and will take insects too.

When kestrel will locate food it goes slowly in stages to catch it.

You can see kestrels in country along new roads when they hount for voles in long grass.

The Hen Harrier is one of many birds of prey (raptors) in Ireland.The length of the Hen Harrier is between 45 and 55 cm long and the wingspan is between 97 and 118 cm. The male is pale grey and the wings are grey with black wingtips. The female are larger than the males and are brown in colour with a white rump and bars on their tails. Birds of both male and female look similar to adult females during their first year and they are often called ringtails.

The female gives a whistle when taking food from the male. During the summer months they breed in upland areas mainly in the South and West of Ireland. Counties Cork, Limerick and Kerry hold approximately a third of the breeding Irish Hen Harrier population. Hen Harrier make their nests during the Spring, with each producing between 1 and 6 eggs. Females are responsible for brooding eggs and minding the chicks when they are young.

Click here to see my presentation.