Paradise Park Home

Chough Stuff

Nesting Behaviour

Choughs build a large nest of twigs roughly 60cms across. This is usually lined with lichen, moss, and sheeps wool

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The female will lay 4 or 5 eggs, at 36 hour intervals, and she will incubate them for 19 days after the last egg is laid. The male will feed the female during this time, coming back to the nest regularly.

Once hatched, both parents feed the chicks, but the female will brood the chicks for the first ten days.

Very young chicks like ant eggs and larvae, possibly because of their size. As they grow older, the parent birds make many trips to and fro, bringing food in, and taking away faecal sacs. These are small bags of chough poo, which are carried away to keep the nest clean.

The chicks will finally fledge and leave the nest after 6 weeks.

 

  


Operation Chough Nest Webcam 2011

Choughs Breeding at Paradise Park, Hayle, Cornwall

Camera is now Offline - All chicks have Fledged
Nest 1 Family group - Note youngsters' yellowish bills

The chough webcam is now offline, as all the chicks have now fledged. They will shortly be moving to the large flight aviary, where they will become socialised in a larger flock. They will also learn hunting techniques from the adult birds.

This year our choughs produced seven chicks, with only one fatality due to gapeworms.

Nest 1 - All birds have now fledged
First egg laid 5th April - Hatched 27th April
Second egg laid 7th April - Hatched 27th April
Third egg laid 9th April - Hatched 28th April

All chicks fledged 6th June

Nest 2
No eggs yet
Nest built and lined

Nest 3 - Chick has now fledged
First egg laid 22nd April - Hatched 17th May
Second egg laid 25th April
Third egg laid 27th April
Fourth egg laid 28th April
Fifth egg laid 1st May

Chick fledged 30th June

Nest 4
No eggs yet
Nest built

Nest 5 - All birds have now fledged
First egg laid 12th April - Hatched 5th May
Second egg laid 14th April - Hatched 5th May
Third egg laid 16th April - Hatched 7th May (Died 19th June due to gapeworm infection)
Fourth egg laid 19th April

All chicks fledged 16th June

Many thanks to Mike & all at Handykam for providing webcams, cabling and software.

  
Paradise Park Wildlife Sanctuary, Hayle Cornwall TR27 4HB, UK ©2011