First Jersey chough chick born in about 100 years is male

The flock have apparently accepted Dusty according to Birds on the Edge

The first Chough chick to be born in the wild in Jersey for over 100 years is a male, according to the charity rearing them.

DNA testing was used to confirm the sex of Dusty, the spring-born Chough.

Choughs, a red-billed member of the Crow family, died out in Jersey in about 1900.

Over the past three years, wildlife experts have worked to reintroduce the birds to the north coast and had some success with hand-reared chicks.

DNA samples were sent to a lab that specialises in finding out the gender of birds to find out for certain if Dusty was male or female.

Keepers say it is great news for the population in Jersey as the potential number of breeding pairs could go up.

CeCe was hand-reared by a team at Durrell Wildlife park and has been confirmed female

Another chick, CeCe, who had been hand-reared, was confirmed as a female.

The Birds on the Edge group, who reared the original red-billed choughs, plan to bring in more chicks from Cornwall to keep Dusty and CeCe company.

The original choughs came from the Paradise Park wildlife sanctuary in Cornwall and were then reared at the Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey before being released into the wild.

They made their home at Ronez Quarry in St John, where the nest holding Dusty was discovered.