Dublin Zoo Birdwatching mornings for beginners in Dublin Zoo

Stefka said:
Hie folks,
just wanted to ask you if anyone here is gonna attend this talk/walk this Sunday.

Events Calendar - Dublin Zoo, Ireland.
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This should be very interesting and is usually organised with the co operation of "Birdwatch Ireland". Dublin Zoo is a haven for many species of wild birds and they actively encourage nesting etc. Also as the Zoo is within the very large Phoenix Park it is common to see sparrowhawks and other unusual species flying over and foraging. Also the lakes attract all kinds of migrant wild ducks, herons and gulls.
If you do attend I would enjoy reading your review of the event.
 
dublinlion said:
This should be very interesting and is usually organised with the co operation of "Birdwatch Ireland". Dublin Zoo is a haven for many species of wild birds and they actively encourage nesting etc. Also as the Zoo is within the very large Phoenix Park it is common to see sparrowhawks and other unusual species flying over and foraging. Also the lakes attract all kinds of migrant wild ducks, herons and gulls.
If you do attend I would enjoy reading your review of the event.
Click to expand...

What duck do they get in winter? Phoenix Park is such a huge green oasis that there must be some really wild areas within it.
 
IanRRobinson said:
What duck do they get in winter? Phoenix Park is such a huge green oasis that there must be some really wild areas within it.
Click to expand...

On a quiet winter morning it is possible to see lots of wild ducks incl. shoveller, tufted, pochard, teal, mandarin and even the odd rare vagrant. also the main park has listed 70+ species of bird and most of these will visit the zoo to pick up an easy meal. The park also has 6 bat species and up to 6 active badger setts. The lake in the african plains section of the zoo is the biggest lake in Dublin county. (2.8 hectares, i think). The fallow deer in the park are descended from the original introduced stock 360 years ago.
 
dublinlion said:
If you do attend I would enjoy reading your review of the event.
Click to expand...

Hie guys,
so I went there today and I have to say - I became a little younger today :)

No one showed up, just me and 2 ladies with kids (3 boys, about 6-11)
And only the boys joined the walk. So you can imagine, how silly I felt :)

Anyway, I walked with them for about an hour and I have to say - if you have kids, definitively take them there. (Another Birdwatching morning is on 18.12.). I couldn't believe how much were the boys enjoying it! They all got a sheet with pictures and names of the most common Irish birds and their task was to spot as many of them as they can. And they were really looking all around, writing everything down, looking through their tiny binoculars... So cute!
One of the boys compered it to "card - collecting", you' re just collecting birds, not cards :D

So, if you're an adult, you know the birdwatching basics and recognize the common birds, it's not really an event for you. Except the ducks on the lake, we didn't see any other birds then the ones I can watch everyday on my birdfeeder. But if you have kids, don' t hesitate to take them there, they'll have fun! ;)
 
Stefka said:
Hie guys,
so I went there today and I have to say - I became a little younger today :)

No one showed up, just me and 2 ladies with kids (3 boys, about 6-11)
And only the boys joined the walk. So you can imagine, how silly I felt :)

So, if you're an adult, you know the birdwatching basics and recognize the common birds, it's not really an event for you. Except the ducks on the lake, we didn't see any other birds then the ones I can watch everyday on my birdfeeder. But if you have kids, don' t hesitate to take them there, they'll have fun! ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks Stefka, for posting your review of this event. It sounds rather underwhelming and i'm glad now that I did'nt make the effort to attend lol. It is obviously geared for the very young and I was not aware of this.
Still you probably had a nice Zoo visit afterwards.
 
I did have a nice visit. I arrived just when they opened and the mornings there are always lovely. The Red Panda cubs were playing, Arctic Fox wasn´t hiding... Nice day.

But you can imagine - it was Sunday and the weather was nice, so after lunch the zoo was crowed. I left around 2 pm, I couldn´t stand the people :-)

But I don´t regret the "birdwatching" either, it was really nice to see, that some kids are interested in nature.
 
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