On the trail of the European roller
It's Sunday 17 May and I'm excited about meeting my seven other teammates in Arles, for what I'm anticipating to be a scientific, cultural, gastronomical and twitcher's delight.
Monday, 18 May
Introductory day at the field centre
I am not disappointed. Today we had a good look around the field centre garden, exploring all ecological elements of compost heaps, wetlands, ladybird tunnels, organic herb and vegetable patches, and a succulents garden. The surrounding trees on the two-hectare site support regular viewings of the scops owl and evidence of the little owl and newly hatched chicks. Watching the garden from the patio has been interesting, with an abundance of resident species making their appearances.
The A Rocha field staff are really accommodating and friendly and we will be working under the instruction of the lead scientist Muriel Gervais. Earthwatch has partnered with A Rocha, a Christian conservation organisation, for the first time this year. They explained their philosophy to us as scientific and research based practical conservation and environmental education. A Rocha does a lot of stakeholder awareness activity, and for the first few days we had a film crew present from a local television station, who were creating a documentary on A Rocha's work and volunteers involved in their research.
Tuesday, 19 May
First day of field research
On our first field work day we saw five breeding pairs and eight individuals, and the observation sites were on harder terrain and part of a longer transect. But the knowledge that every day we will return to a three course (at least) lingering lunch, in the heartiest Provencal style as whipped up by the miraculous Martine, is excellent motivation.
Our post-lunch activities are perhaps less wholesome, as they involve sorting through, identifying and categorising ‘nest box contents' i.e. roller faecal matter. We have had some respite from the heat while working in the ‘lab' and picking out an assortment of undigested insect mandibles, heads, legs and carapaces. Every now and then the odd large snail shell or grasshopper limb would make us ‘ooh' and ‘ahh'. The ID and proportions of the roller food-types will also be plotted against the number of chicks in each nest box, to help establish theories of the species' breeding success.
Thursday, 21 May
Third day of field research
Whew, it's going to be a hot one today. Today is our third consecutive day of birding and it's anticipated to hit 32oC (about 96oF). Our two previous field days have involved splitting the group of eight into two groups of four and concentrating on one transect each. It's been great comparing stories from the field.
Today our whole project group of eight is reforming to spot individual and breeding pairs of the European roller, on a third transect. We have been cycling along the transect tracks with the essential binoculars, camera, transect map and bird field guide (for other interesting species along the way). Our typical set-up at observation points has all four of us looking in a different direction and rotating positions for 10 minutes. We take note of the number of individual rollers, the number of apparent breeding pairs and the presence of various behaviours: perching, flight (and direction), presence of aerial displays and foraging. We are also recording specific habitat types which are known to support rollers, and we picked up quickly that they are more likely to perch on the outside branches of trees, or on low bushes, utility lines, fence posts or dead trees in order to easily spot insects in the grass/ pasture.
Our observation statistics will help determine potential populations within each of these habitats, with the presence and breeding success of rollers as indicators of local environmental health. Once analysed, the data will help inform guidance on agricultural and other land use management.
Yesterday was a joy to cycle among the wild poppies and beside a canal. We spotted few rollers on our transect: two breeding pairs and five individuals (in comparison, the other group spotted seven pairs and seven individuals on the same transect the day before, so Muriel will be investigating the difference and correlating this with the local conditions). Muriel tells us that these figures are good initial indicators of a healthy ecosystem, but there is still more duplication of the methods to be done to confirm this.
Saturday, 23 May
Recreational day
We have been getting up between 6.30am and 7am to try and beat the heat on research mornings, but we got a bit more of a sleep-in today. This morning's visit to the Arles local market was fun. The produce section was especially satisfying, with an abundance of pastries, olives, cured meats and honeys, wine, herbs, fresh vegetables...you name it. I practised my rudimentary French on the stallholders and enjoyed the banter.
Our afternoon was spent visiting Alphonse Daudet's treasured windmill, as described in ‘Letters From My Mill', the Pont du Gard (a Roman aqueduct from the second century), and the quaint alpine village of Les-Baux-de-Provence - the original site where bauxite was discovered and officially one of the most beautiful villages in France.
Monday, 25 May
Just checking in with today's count: six breeding pairs and four individuals from my group's transect. Have to get back to sorting nest box contents...
Tuesday, 26 May
Prospecting
Today, in our two sub-groups, we helped to prospect a potential new transect site. Last year, local landowners reported that they had seen roller birds in the area, and Muriel would like to establish if individuals, or of even more interest, breeding pairs, have returned to the area this year. This could indicate to her and her team that it is a good location to set up nest boxes, to encourage breeding pairs to stay locally and to allow access to valuable nest box contents to be collected and analysed when the box is vacant again (after breeding season is over). Our vigilance paid off - we saw eight birds on one sub-section and six on the other. Within those individual birds we estimated that there were at least four breeding pairs, which we could tell by the spectacular 'rolling' courting displays by the male birds. I think it would be fascinating to be here once the chicks have hatched, to see the roller behaviour change to foraging and feeding.
We will prospect one more site on Thursday, at a vineyard. Muriel is interested in forging a solid relationship with the proprietors so that she might be permitted to do more research in the area, to the extent of setting up nest boxes and creating a regular transect there. She is interested in the presence of rollers on vineyards, which are common in this area of Provence, as establishing the optimum conditions for healthy and sustainable landuse for vineyards would have a high positive impact on the area.
I have had lots of highlights over these days of birdwatching. Though I didn't arrive as a proficient twitcher, I was certainly captivated by the threatened lesser kestrel catching its prey, the little owl, the colourful bee-eater and the green woodpecker hatchlings.
Wednesday, 27 May
‘A wind that could blow the ears off a donkey...'
Anyone who has read A Year in Provence will have read about the Mistral. Peter Mayle was not kidding. This local gale features multiple times a month and, unofficially, lasts for three, six, or nine days at a time (I believe this is largely anecdotal) blowing at 110-130 kph from the North. It blew and blew as we visited the Camargue - a wetland of rich biodiversity, 20kms distance from Les Tourades. Though smaller birds were seeking shelter in among the branches, we had a fantastic view of flamingos, gulls, moorhen, heron, and storks in their large, high nests, feeding their chicks. Some of these we spotted from hides or observation platforms in the wetland park. No rollers today though. There are several casual listers in our group and they have seen over 70 species of birds so far in the area, with a few ‘life birds'. I am adding to my birder vocabulary while I'm here.
Today was also Martine's market day, which meant that we arrived back at Les Tourades to fresh French loaf, and a fruit and lettuce salad with pork escalope and Provencal tomatoes. Tonight it's a green salad followed by a mixed mushroom and salmon quiche, and then a plate of six local cheeses and coffee. I've been eyeing up the menu in the pantry. Mmmm. If only this was a food diary...
Friday, 29 May
Arles revoir
And so we return to our rendezvous point, the Arles train station. It has been a fantastic 13 days and I have learned a lot. Over the course of the eight days in the field we counted what we believe to be 17 breeding pairs and 20 individuals on the original transects (not double counting). I can definitely understand the need for additional field assistants, as one person surveying the landscape would only be capable of seeing about 90 degrees at a time versus our collective ability to check 360 degrees around a point. Further, we can cover much more ground and move the research forward much more quickly during a breeding season.
I'm impressed by the completeness of the project - already local farmers and stakeholders have started to catch on to the importance of the ecosystem as a whole. This is in no small part due to A Rocha's environmental education work. I'm happy to have been a part of this research, to have met such great teammates and field leaders with a common interest in the environment, and to have encountered the European roller - a stunning bird with an important role in Provence.
Report by Emma Sharp, May 2009.
Find out how you can follow in Emma's footsteps on the Earthwatch expedition Birds, Biodiversity, and Biking in Provence.