In tune with nature: expert sounds out all of Ireland's bird species
According to conservation bodies, some 63 percent of Ireland's birds are currently either red or amber-listed, meaning they are at severe or moderate extinction risk.
'Birds are in trouble in Ireland like they are across the world, the loss of wildlife — sonically and physically — is devastating to me,' said the 37-year-old.
'But I focus on hope and beauty, which is essential,' the ornithologist told AFP at his home near Cobh (pronounced 'Cove') in County Cork.
More than four years into his recording project he has sampled 201 different Irish bird species, stocking over 12,000 audio clips from around the country, Ronayne told AFP.
Just two remain to be documented: the great skua, and red-breasted merganser.
'If people realize just how spectacular wildlife is, there's no way they would let it disappear, attitudes would change,' Ronayne said.
Ireland may be famed for its green fields, but Ronayne paints a bleak picture — 'realistic' he says — of a degraded landscape and a bird population decimated by vanishing habitats.
Most of Ireland comprises intensively farmed fields bounded by trimmed hedgerows, drained and mined peatlands, overgrazed uplands, and minimal native woodland, he told AFP.
Non-native conifer plantations — approximately nine percent of Ireland's 11 percent forest cover — are also a biodiversity villain, described by Ronayne as 'a species-poor industrial cash-crop.'
'I try to show people the beauty of what we're erasing and what we must stand up and fight for,' said the wildlife expert.
Last year he published an award-winning book, released two albums, and made an acclaimed documentary film. His talk tour is currently selling out venues around Ireland.
'Wildlife sound is such a great engaging tool to connect people to nature itself and get them acquainted with everything that's on their doorstep,' Ronayne told AFP.
'If you know your neighbor you're more likely to help them in times of need,' he said.
At the shows Ronayne, who was diagnosed with a form of autism as an adult, presents the story of his life and how nature is woven through it.
He also plays audio of warbles, tweets, trills, screeches and chirps, and mystery sounds, inviting the audience to guess the origin.
Some clips show birds mimicking other animals like dogs, people and other bird species.
'Some species in my collection can mimic 30 to 40 other species in their song,' he said.
Laughter is common at his talks, but also tears and grief as listeners learn of Ireland's endangered birdlife.
Ronayne regularly holds 'dawn chorus' walks, bringing small groups into silent forests far from road noise to experience the birdlife waking up.
A gradually building cacophony of sound, the dawn chorus is 'a reflection of the health of a given environment,' he told AFP in an old woodland near his home while waiting for sunrise.
'The more sonically diverse it is, the healthier the habitat is,' he said.
After unpacking his audio recorder, parabolic microphone and tripod, he quickly identified the melodies of song thrushes, robins, blackbirds, goldcrests and others as they greeted the day.
'Chiffchaff! Did you hear that?! There's a grey wagtail!' he exclaimed, head twitching toward each sound in the lifting gloom.
Ronayne also hides recorders for weeks and even months in remote untouched places where birds congregate.
On Ballycotton beach near Cobh, migrating birds swirled overhead before settling on an adjacent lagoon.
Ronayne carefully placed a waterproof recorder — able to run for up two weeks — in grass by the shore.
'They have to fly right over here to there,' he said pointing upwards at their route.
'After I collect it I'll be able to monitor the birds, capture their calls, and tell environmental stories from the audio,' he said.
Back home, he scrolled on a computer showing thousands of archived sonogram clips — visual representations of sound — of birdsong audio.
Each entry included data on the behavior, calls and protected status of each bird: many either red or amber.
'First we must realize how wonderful nature is, then how fragile it is, and how much we have kicked it down,' Ronayne told AFP.
'When we as a society fall back in love with nature, and respect it as we once did, beautiful things will happen.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
06-08-2025
- Arab News
Jumbo journey as Indian elephant set to return home
NEW DELHI: An Indian elephant taken on an epic journey to a tycoon's giant zoo is expected to return home after protests by the religious community she came from, officials said Wednesday, following a court battle over the animal's welfare at the temple. The story of the 36-year-old elephant called Madhuri reflects both the passion that some communities have for elephants in India — and the mind-boggling scale of the self-declared 'world's biggest wild animal rescue center.' The elephant spent her adult life at a Jain monastery in Kolhapur in Maharashtra state — where campaigners from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India said she experienced 'cruel and bleak living conditions.' The often chained animal killed a monk in the temple in 2017 when she lashed out in frustration, and a court in 2024 ordered she be rehabilitated after a complex legal battle. Madhuri was taken more than 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) to the Vantara Animal Rescue Center, run by Anant Ambani, son of the billionaire head of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani, arriving in July. Vantara is a vast operation that includes more than 200 elephants, as well as more than 50 bears, 160 tigers, 200 lions, 250 leopards and 900 crocodiles. It was also among the many venues for Anant Ambani's lavish multi-day wedding celebrations in 2024, parties that set a new benchmark in matrimonial extravagance — including private performances by R&B star Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. Elephants taken to the zoo are usually transported by road in 'elephant ambulances' — specially adapted trucks — accompanied by a large team including vets. Vantara said Madhuri was given veterinary care, and space to roam alongside other elephants. Activists offered a rubberised 'anti-cruelty' mechanical elephant model to the monastery as a replacement. But thousands marched on Sunday in Kolhapur demanding the real elephant be returned. Vantara on Wednesday offered a solution, acknowledging the 'deep religious and cultural significance' that the elephant holds. It proposed to house the elephant at a special rehabilitation center near the temple — which would include pools to ease the elephant's arthritis and open spaces. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said in a statement that he had 'good news' that Vantara would join a court petition 'for the smooth passage of the elephant Madhuri back.' Vantara said that, subject to court approval, it 'will provide complete technical and veterinary assistance for her safe and dignified return.' PETA says the more than 2,700 captive elephants in India often face 'severe physical and psychological stress.' When the herd animals are not chained up, they are used in temple ceremonies, paraded through packed crowds with flashing lights and ear-splitting music.
Arab News
01-08-2025
- Arab News
Sierra Leone chimp refuge shuts doors to tourists to protest deforestation
FREETOWN: The eco-lodges and tree-covered footpaths of West Africa's largest chimpanzee refuge have been devoid of tourists for more than two months as its founder stages a protest about rampant deforestation in Sierra Leone. Authorities acknowledge that the country's rich wildlife is threatened by land seizures and illegal logging, but the founder of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Bala Amarasekaran, says they have not yet done enough about it to convince him to reopen to visitors. 'A few months back, we could see the land grabbing and the encroachment coming closer to the sanctuary,' Amarasekaran said at the refuge, which is home to more than 100 mainly orphaned chimps and normally lets guests stay in its lodges. '(Deforestation) is really threatening the sanctuary's existence, because it's too dangerous when people come close to a wildlife preserve like this,' said Amarasekaran, who founded the refuge 30 years ago and has led it through crises including civil war and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic. Sierra Leone lost approximately 2.17 million hectares (5.36 million acres) of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, representing about 39 percent of the total in 2000, according to online tracker Global Forest Watch. The Western Area Peninsula, home to the capital Freetown and Tacugama, lost more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of tree cover during that same period. Amarasekaran said deforestation in the area was fueled by 'land grabbing' for development. The consequences of rapid deforestation were highlighted by a mudslide on the slopes of Mount Sugar Loaf in 2017 that killed an estimated 1,000 people. A 2019 paper published by the Geological Society of London blamed the incident on a mix of heavy rain, deforested slopes and unchecked construction. It said tree loss had weakened the soil's ability to absorb water and hold together, worsening the mudflow. 'It's a serious problem, an existential problem,' Sierra Leone's Information Minister Chernor Bah said. 'We regret that the Tacugama authorities have taken the step that they have taken to shut down here, but it's one that we understand.' Amarasekaran said President Julius Maada Bio's government had dispatched a task force to conduct some raids on illegal logging operations, but complained about a lack of follow-up operations. Bah said the government was committed to protecting the peninsula's forests.
Arab News
31-07-2025
- Arab News
‘Chamber of horrors' being exhumed at Ireland mass baby grave
TUAM: Only one stone wall remains of the old mother and baby home in this town, but it has cast a shadow over all of Ireland. A mass grave that could hold up to nearly 800 infants and young children — some of it in a defunct septic tank — is being excavated on the grounds of the former home run by the Bon Secours Sisters, an order of nuns. The burial site has forced Ireland and the Catholic Church — long central to its identity — to reckon with a legacy of having shunned unmarried mothers and separated them from their children left at the mercy of a cruel system. The grave was accidentally discovered by two boys a half century ago. But the true horror of the place was not known until a local historian began digging into the home's history. Catherine Corless revealed that the site was atop a septic tank and that 796 deceased infants were unaccounted for. Her findings caused a scandal when the international news media wrote about her work in 2014. When test excavations later confirmed an untold number of tiny skeletons were in the sewage pit, then-Prime Minister Enda Kenny called it a 'chamber of horrors.' Pope Francis later apologized for the church's 'crimes' that included forced separations of unwed mothers and children. The nuns apologized for not living up to their Christianity. A cold, cramped and deadly place The homes were not unique to Ireland and followed a Victorian-era practice of institutionalizing the poor, troubled and neglected children, and unmarried mothers. The Tuam home was cold, crowded and deadly. Mothers worked there for up to a year before being cast out — almost always without their children. Corless' report led to a government investigation that found 9,000 children, or 15 percent, died in mother and baby homes in the 20th century. The Tuam home — open from 1925 to 1961 — had the highest death rate. Corless said she was driven to expose the story 'the more I realized how those poor, unfortunate, vulnerable kids, through no fault of their own, had to go through this life.' Discovering deeply held secrets Corless' work brought together survivors of the homes and children who discovered their own mothers had given birth to long-lost relatives who died there. Annette McKay said there's still a level of denial about the abuse, rape and incest that led some women to the homes while fathers were not held accountable. 'They say things like the women were incarcerated and enslaved for being pregnant,' McKay said. 'Well, how did they get pregnant? Was it like an immaculate conception?' Her mother ended up in the home after being raped as a teenager by the caretaker of the industrial school where she had been sentenced for 'delinquency' after her mother died and father, a British soldier, abdicated responsibility. Her mother, Margaret 'Maggie' O'Connor, only revealed her secret when she was in her 70s, sobbing hysterically when the story finally came out. Six months after giving birth in Tuam in 1942, O'Connor was hanging laundry at another home where she had been transferred when a nun told her, 'the child of your sin is dead.' She never spoke of it again. Some 20 years later, a Sunday newspaper headline about a 'shock discovery' in Tuam caught McKay's attention. Among the names was her long-lost sister, Mary Margaret O'Connor, who died in 1943. Shame's long shadow Barbara Buckley was born in the Tuam home in 1957 and was 19 months old when she was adopted by a family in Cork. She was an adult when a cousin told her she'd been adopted and was later able to find her birth mother through an agency. Her mother came to visit from London for two days in 2000 and happened to be there on her 43rd birthday, though she didn't realize it. 'I found it very hard to understand, how did she not know it was my birthday?' Buckley said. 'Delving deep into the thoughts of the mothers, you know, they put it so far back. They weren't dealing with it anymore.' She said her mother had worked in the laundry and was sent away after a year, despite asking to stay longer. Her lasting memory of the place was only being able to see the sky above the high walls. At the end of their visit, her mother told her it had been lovely to meet her and her family, but said she'd never see her again. Buckley was devastated at the rejection and asked why. 'She said, 'I don't want anyone finding out about this,'' Buckley said. 'Going back to 1957 — and it was still a dark secret.' Luck of the Irish Pete Cochran considers himself one of the lucky ones. He was 16 months old when he got out of the home and was adopted by a family in the US, where he avoided the stigma that would have dogged him as a so-called illegitimate child in his homeland. During his visit to Tuam before the dig began, a man from town told him at a bar: 'I respect you now, but growing up, I used to spit on you because that's what I was taught.' Cochran hopes the dig turns up few remains. 'I hope they don't find 796 bodies,' he said. 'That all these children were adopted and had a good life like I did.' McKay has had the same hope for her sister. But even if they found a thimble full of her remains, she'd like to reunite her with her mom, who died in 2016. 'The headstone hasn't got my mother's name on it because I fought everybody to say I refuse to put my mom's name on until she can have her child with her,' McKay said.
