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Traonach - Corncrake
"Traonach Thoraigh"
Patsy Dan MacRuairí
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Corncrakes have a mottled buff brown plumage, a speckled grey head and neck, with black streaks on their back. It is only in flight that the bright chestnut patches on their wings catch the eye. They have short stumpy tails and trail their legs while in flight. Both sexes look almost identical with the male having less grey in the plumage. Corncrakes stand about 10 inches tall. Unlike their aquatic relatives they are very secretive birds that skulk in the cover of grass or tall herb vegetation rarely straying out into the open. The harsh but distinctive "crek crek" call of the male during the mating season is probably the closest most of us will ever come to encountering one of these elusive birds which has become one of the most endangered species in the country.
The Corncrake is the only Irish breeding bird which is threatened with global extinction. BirdWatch Ireland has operated an intensive Corncrake Conservation Project in Ireland since 1991, with the support of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
More about the Corncrake in Ireland
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