The Dawn Chorus

Welcome to the Mooney Dawn Chorus web page. Here you will find all sorts of information about the birds of the Dawn Chorus and audio from our archive of previous broadcasts about the Dawn Chorus.

Derek Mooney welcomes you to the Dawn Chorus

	Derek Mooney

The dawn chorus never ceases. It moves, with the early morning light, like a great wave on the face of the Earth. At this moment, somewhere in the world, the birds are waking up and bursting into song. Our ancestors, from time immemorial, awoke to this sound. Bird songs were, for countless millennia, part of everyday life. Nowadays, however, locked away in our concrete houses, few of us ever hear them.

Exotic eco-holidays are all the rage; people, who can't drag themselves from the bed in the morning, endure long tedious flights, and jetlag, to encounter nature in far-off lands. Yet the wildlife on our doorsteps is as exciting as anything other countries have to offer. So, set the alarm clock, not for the airport taxi, but for an encounter with the birds. 'See Ireland first' as the slogan goes and 'hear Ireland's birds first'!

What is the Dawn Chorus?
It is collective sound of all the birds that sing at dawn. It usually refers to those sounds made by birds that sing during the breeding season, which for most birds in Ireland is between late March and the beginning of July. The dawn chorus is usually associated with woodland birds but it can be heard everywhere. Each habitat has its own distinctive "chorus members".

Ireland
Ireland is a small island on the western edges of the continent of Europe. Originally covered with broad-leaved woodlands the first settlers began to change the landscape forever.

Large areas were cleared and advances in agriculture eventually lead to a landscape of patchwork fields surrounded by stonewalls in the west and hedgerows in the east. Because of this patchwork of habitats we are fortunate here in Ireland to be able to hear a wide range of species in relatively small areas. These changes have had a great effect on the birds of Ireland. Some species have lost out by these changes while others have taken full advantage. Relatively recent changes, such as the advent of mechanisation in Irish farming, has led to a dramatic decline in birds of hay meadows.