Niall was recently in Rome and met up with our former RTÉ colleague Colm Flynn, who is now Vatican Correspondent for EWTN. While strolling around Vatican City, their walk was interrupted by the noisy calls of parakeets.
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5:54
Looking forward to Pope Leo’s Elephant
Niall has primarily been in Rome to record segments for a special documentary called 'Pope Leo's Elephant', which will be broadcast this coming Christmas Day. It tells the story of an extraordinary diplomatic gift - a magnificent Asian Elephant named Hanno - that was sent to Pope Leo X by King Manuel I of Portugal in 1514.
Of all of the ornithological surveys carried out by conservation charity BirdWatch Ireland, its annual Irish Garden Bird Survey is far and away the most popular. Monday 25th November marks the start of the survey’s 36th consecutive season, which will run until the end of February 2025.
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4:59
Magpies nesting in November?
We recently received an email from one of our loyal listeners, Conor Cunnane. Conor, who lives in Co. Kildare, noticed that Magpies are nesting in his garden. It's unusual for these birds to build their nests so early so we sent Terry Flanagan there to find out more.
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12:47
Slender-billed Curlew declared extinct
In a very sad development, a once-abundant species has formally been declared extinct. A highly migratory member of the wader family, the Slender-billed Curlew was a close relative of the Eurasian Curlew that we know and love here in Ireland. The last confirmed sighting was of a single individual at Merja Zerga, Morocco in 1995.
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