An Australian black swan has arrived mysteriously at a west Clare nature reserve in the company of whooper swans which normally migrate to their Icelandic breeding grounds at this time of year.
A local naturalist, Mr John Carmody, said the red-billed black swan, Cygnus atratus, appeared at Tullaheir Lake, Moyasta, with two whooper swans 10 days ago and seems quite at home.
It is the second sighting of an unusual avian visitor in the area in recent weeks. Earlier this month a gyrfalcon, a Greenland white falcon with a wing span of four feet, was spotted.
Recordings of gyrfalcon in Britain and Ireland are the highest for almost a century, with sightings in Co Antrim, as well as Hampshire, Cornwall, the Shetlands, the Orkneys and the Outer Hebrides in Britain.
According to Mr Steve Gantlett, editor of Birding World, the sightings could be related to the movement of kittiwake seagulls from Greenland.
The black swan, however, comes from much sunnier climes. The species is often bred in zoos or privately in Australia. However, the west Clare visitor is untagged and has not had its wings clipped, opening up the possibility that it is a wild visitor from down under.
"Ornamental male fowl would have identification on them," Mr Carmody said. He said smaller birds had crossed the Atlantic and homing pigeons had returned to England after being released in Korea during the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988.
The black swan could have made the much longer trip from Australia. "The black swan can swim. It is probably impossible, but who can say?"
The black swan is smaller than the whooper swan, a herbivores weighing up to 13.5 kg, but can cover great distances by flying at altitudes of up to 30,000ft, according to Mr Carmody.
Other whoopers have been seen in the area during the past seven years. However, all but the two under the black swan's spell have migrated this year.
The west Clare peninsula has become popular for bird-watchers as it has the State's largest concentrations of wintering wildfowl, waders and a diversity of seabirds.
There are proposals to develop an ornithological centre in the area.
Mr Carmody said ospreys had been seen in the area last year as they migrated to Africa, along with egrets from central Africa, members of the heron family and spoonbills, a wading bird.
In 1996 he successfully attracted a pair of kestrels to an artificial nest, composed of a beer barrel on a 25ft pole. Last year five chicks were hatched at the nest which is in a Special Area of Conservation.
"There is plenty of forest around. They would have their young normally in the nest of other birds, normally a crow's nest," he said.