Chris Madaroni
Seán Ronayne records over 12,000 bird sounds
With more than half of Irish birds at risk of extinction, Irish ornithologists use recordings they made to defend their preservation.
Cean Ronaine, from Cobb, Cork County, holds records of about 12,000 Irish birds and other wildlife.
The documentary team follows his mission when they try to capture recordings of birds of all species of Ireland.
However, Cean believes that “it’s not just birds at risk of extinction, they are symptoms of much greater things.”
Chris Madaroni
Characteristics of Cean’s work produced by Ross Whitaker and Aiden O’Sullivan for a true film in a documentary directed by Kathleen Harris.
Cean Ronaine’s project, which had been immersed in nature since he was a child, did not begin until he moved to Spain in 2018.
While living in Barcelona, Cean said he started a record-breaking bird “as there were so many new species there.”
“I bought a sound recorder and gave them the opportunity to understand what I’m listening to, and then realized that it’s worth sharing sounds with people,” he told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster program.
“People responded to it and I realized I enjoyed telling their stories.”
Afterwards, Cian decides to return to Ireland and record “the sound of all birds.”
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Amazing SKUA painted on the Shetland Islands
With 200 native birds already recorded, he has three remaining on his list – the grey partridge, the Great Square and the Red Brest Melganzer.
He explained that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find all three.
Cean said that the great SKUA can even attack humans.
“Tough birds, they are seabirds, waiting for the other birds to catch the food, chase them, attack them, then steal food from them.”
Even if the birds swallow the food, Cean explained, “they will attack them until they reflux.”
“If you go near their nesting grounds, they will attack you too.”
The gray partridge that Cian continued to be “a species that has almost disappeared in Ireland.”
“[It’s] A ground-based home species that was extremely struggling with the hands of mechanization of agricultural practices remaining at one site in Midlands in Offalley County.
“Even then, they are species that had to be reintroduced, replenished by Scandinavian birds.”
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Grey partridge, almost extinct species
“Destruction and greed”
When pursuing this bird accumulation and adding it to its portfolio, Cian said he saw “destroy and greed” in the Irish landscape.
The area is “ecologically devastated,” he said.
But “it’s not too late,” he added.
“There are fragments of beauty and hope that we can build.
“If you go anywhere outside of Ireland, you really get home.”
Chris Madaroni
Cean says he saw destruction in the Irish landscape
Speaking to the BBC News Ni in Seattle, Seán said that “cutting down trees is illegal” in parts of the United States.
“You need to get permission and when you cut it down, you need to replace it with a mature tree,” he said.
Ireland people should “take an example from places like this,” he said.
“63% of Irish birds are at risk of extinction, and that is the mine canary.
“It’s not just birds at risk of extinction, these are symptoms of much larger things.”
