White_stork-1200x675 Elusive White Stork visits Kerry and Wicklow — Many white storks migrate to Africa for the winter, but some remain in southern Europe.

Four sightings of a very rare visitor to Irish shores have been made in counties Kerry and Wicklow during the past week.

White Storks are not known to breed in Ireland and are primarily summer visitors to the European continent.

Just 19 previous sightings of the White Stork, the most recent of which occurred in 2021, have been made in Ireland to irishbirding.com.

County Cork, an established birdwatching location in Ireland, has recorded the bird on just five occasions in the last 180 years, including in Cloyne (2002), Clonakilty (1995), Youghal (1978), Hop Island (1866) and Fermoy (1846).

The first reported recent sighting of the bird in the past week was made by Con O’Shea on private land at Valentia Island, County Kerry, on April 8th.

On April 11th, Bryan O’Connor reported the presence of the bird at Castleisland in Kerry.

The bird has since been spotted on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning on private farmland in Kilmacanogue in County Wicklow.

Many white storks migrate to Africa for the winter, but some remain in southern Europe.

Isolated sightings in Ireland are likely due to accidental overflights or individuals straying from their usual migration routes.

White_storks-1200x675 Elusive White Stork visits Kerry and Wicklow

Meanwhile, another bird species that has been spotted hundreds of times across southern counties in recent weeks appears to be returning to more familiar climes.

Sightings of hoopoes have dropped significantly, from 30 per day to just 2 on Friday last.

256 sightings of the bird have been reported to irishbirding.com in just four weeks, compared to just 20 sightings for all of 2024.

“John Horton, who is the recently appointed Cape Clear Bird Observatory Warden, took to BlueSky on Friday to state, “After 20 consecutive days recording hoopoes, it appears the last one has now left us. Our busiest day total was 8 and we estimate that at least 15 different birds have made landfall here.”

The first sighting was reported by Sally Bolger on March 8th in Bantry, County Cork, with the next sighting coming in Kinsale 13 days later on March 21st.