Seán Ronayne is an unlikely celebrity in Ireland. By his own admission, the 36-year-old ornithologist from Cork is highly introverted and at his most comfortable immersed in a remote habitat with just his recording device for company.
His mission to capture the sound of every bird species in Ireland — there are more than 200 — has brought him unexpected fame.
A clip of Ronayne talking about his passion on a popular Irish chat show last year went viral. Now, a new documentary titled “Birdsong” centered around the project is bringing him international attention.
None of that matters much to Ronayne, though. What is important, he said, is spreading the word that “destruction and greed” are wreaking havoc on the Irish landscape and endangering wildlife.
Ronayne’s obsession with birdsong goes back as far as he can remember.
“I was very young, 2 or 3 years of age, and I remember being brought around my hometown of Cobh by my father and grandfather, who were both nature lovers, and just listening to birds,” he said.
The first bird Ronayne remembers hearing was the magpie, and its call still affects him. “I can’t describe to you the feeling that I get when I listen to it,” he said. “I just forget about all my stresses and burdens.”
In 2020, after living in Spain for two years, the idea of recording all of Ireland’s bird species first came to him. Living in Catalonia, near the Pyrenees mountains, he had access to wild spaces, vast forests and coastal wetlands.
When he returned home, he felt bereft. “Nature has really taken a hammering in Ireland and it felt quite sad,” he said.
Ronayne realized that the devastation — much of it caused by intensive farming — was also threatening the existence of dozens of bird species. According to BirdWatch Ireland, 63% of the country’s bird population is now believed to be in danger of extinction.
Ronayne began recording the sounds of various birds and posted the recordings on social media. The reaction astonished him.
“People started sharing the posts. It really surprised me because I thought it was such a niche, even kind of a nerdy, topic.” Ronayne realized that, nerdy or not, there was an appetite for the message he was trying to spread.
He was invited to speak at a music festival in the county of Wicklow and was stunned when he filled the marquee to capacity. Afterward, when he suggested going on a bird walk outside, the entire audience followed.
Ronayne credits his partner, Alba, for convincing him to pursue a full-time career in ornithology, although he says she knew “the madness she was getting into from the beginning.” When they first met, he was going through a phase of studying otters, which meant many weekends traipsing around riverbanks in search of otters’ feces. At the time, he was working in a bar and feeling stuck in a rut.
“It was Alba who said one day, ‘Sean, you need to leave this job and follow your dreams. I’ve got your back.’” A week later, he landed his first job in ornithology. “If it wasn’t for Alba, there would be none of this, no book or film or album or interviews, nothing.”
In the documentary “Birdsong,” Ronayne reveals that he was diagnosed with autism as an adult. Alba was doing a master’s in education, specializing in autism. She came home one day and told him that some of his behaviors appeared to be classic symptoms of the condition.
He had an all-consuming interest in birds but a total lack of interest in revealing anything else about himself, she said. Ronayne said when he received an official diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, many aspects of his life suddenly made sense.
Despite his shy disposition, Ronayne regularly talks across Ireland. His concern about the country’s ecological direction motivates him, although he admitted that the best reaction he gets is usually when he plays the remarkable sounds of birds mimicking not just other birds but animals, too.
He recounts a story of walking in the woods one day with his dog, Toby, in Cork when he heard what sounded like another dog barking. Ronayne said the sound seemed to be coming from a tree above them. “And when we looked up to this great big oak tree, there’s a jay sitting there, and it’s jumping up and down on this branch and barking at Toby.”
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing. He raced home and researched it, only to discover numerous examples of jays copying the sounds of animals, including cats, dogs and even horses. They use it as a warning to other birds. “If they mimic a dog, they’re saying, ‘there’s a dog down there, get up off the ground.’”
Ronayne has recorded 199 different bird species and estimates he has at least three more to go: the grey partridge, the great skua and the red-breasted merganser. More importantly, though, he wants to attract the attention of the Irish government and the farming community’s attention to encourage them to take action.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there are no meaningful wild spaces left in Ireland,” he said. “We have the lowest native woodland cover in all of Europe, which is at about 1% thereabouts.”
The statistics are depressing, but Ronayne said the enthusiasm of young people, in particular, for his work has been uplifting.
“People tell me that they are picking up binoculars and bird books for the first time and getting out into nature because of seeing my talks or social media posts.”
That’s a very important first step, he said. “When you know something and you love it, then you’re much less likely to let it disappear and slip away.”