Eye On Nature

At this time of year, on our evening walks past a stretch of high boggy moorland we frequently hear a strange bird call rising up from the rushes. It is difficult to describe, sounding something like the noise a large bee or insect caught in a jam jar would make. It usually begins on a deep note and whirrs away rising to a higher pitch for a minute or so. It is then answered almost immediately by a similar call, from deeper in the bog, then another and another joins in until the whole area is humming away strangely. What bird makes sounds like that?

Siobhan Montgomery, Churchill, Co Donegal

You are listening to the "drumming" of the snipe, and competition for mates among your local breeding population seems to be keen. The cock snipe creates the sound by rising about 100 metres into the air and diving at an angle of 45 degrees with his tail spread, so that the feathers vibrate in the rush of air. This territorial and courtship display has earned the snipe many country names - "heatherbleat" among them.

I enclose a photograph of a bird on a windowsill, taken in this area recently. Its breast and shoulders were a beautiful bright pink. Can you tell us its name or is it just a freak of nature?

Liam Cusack, Broadford, Co Kildare

This lovely little bird was a rose-coloured starling, which breeds in the south-east of Europe and winters in India. It is a rare vagrant this far west, with single birds recorded in Ireland mainly between June and October. To find one wandering so early in the year suggests someone may be missing a captive-bred bird.

Edited by Michael Viney, who welcomes observations sent to him at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. Email: viney@anu.ie. Observations sent by email should be accompanied by postal address as location is sometimes important to identification or behaviour.