At 7 in the morning on May 22, I hooked up with Georges Olioso, an
ornithologist from Grignan who's been working this area for 40 years, for a full day hitting the hotspots in the eastern Rhone valley. Georges' report at Surfbirds proved invaluable. And his amiable guidance scared up 27 lifers for me in one day, many of which I'm sure I never would have turned up otherwise. This included the best bird of the whole trip.
We started off at the Dentelles de Montmirailles, these sheer granite
cliffs jutting out of the hills around the valley. Targets were Egyptian
Vulture and Short-toed Eagle. Dipped on those (it was too early for raptors) but scored early and hard with a Black-eared Wheatear. Really uncommon, esp. post-migration (likely is Northern). The best trip bird. Also scooped up Jackdaw (outrageous aerobatics) and Woodlark (another good one--highly
local) and off we went.
Next stop was the Travaillan Airfield -- semi-military and we kinda
weren't supposed to be there, but when the target is Little Bustard, who gives a crap? Scored the bustard right away (flying only), and picked up
another awesome sighting -- Woodchat Shrike. This is the least likely
shrike, not even annual in Provence. Skylark, Tawny Pipit and Red-legged Partridge further rocked my world, but we dipped on Stone Curlew.
Then a quick stop at Mornas, a medieval town with a castle perched on a clifftop. Again no raptors, but snagged Alpine Swift. Georges thoughtfully pointed out the TV antenna where someone else had seen singing Blue Rock Thrush, a bird that would mock my attempts to gawk at it wherever it might have been.
Major destination next at Mondragon, where there is Provence's last
undrained natural marsh. First bird right out of the car was Black Kite,
followed by Cirl Bunting. But the star of the show was a colony of
Bee-eaters. Seeing these is like seeing trogons. They're so colorful and exotic, you think you're in the tropics. They like this place because they
burrow in soft banks like kingfishers, which they share with Sand Martins here. Had a flying Great Spotted Woodpecker, which I nailed down later with a perched bird. The mudflats produced Yellow-legged Gull , Little Ringed Plover, Gray Heron and Yellow Wagtail with an unusual Tree Sparrow on the banks. Wood Pigeon flew off and the stop was capped by Georges saying "Ooh la la" as he looked at two nesting Mallards. A rare Purple Heron was standing right behind them.
To the Rhone river proper, well-tamed by dams for electricity and
irrigation. A massive canal at Donzere, that is a huge winter waterfowl
spot, turned up one lone Common Sandpiper, a nesting colony of Little Egrets, and a nesting pair of Mute Swans. We also visited the reedbed where Georges bands Reed and Great Reed Warblers. We heard both, but they wouldn't pop up. This was maddeningly, constantly the case, as the wind that whips off the Alps, the Mistral, was blowing all day. In fact, the heard-only list also included Cetti's, Sardinian, and Fan-tailed Warblers, a bit frustrating for a warbler fan.
A quick stop at a privately owned reserve produced Marsh Harrier and then off to the locals' fave birding spot -- Les Confines at Monteux. This is a bizarre place. As the sign on the gate indicates, it was once the site of
a fireworks factory ("No Smoking!" this sign also wisely cautions). It's now vast,
mature grassland punctuated by ponds, groves, and tangles. We searched in
vain for Roller, but turned up Eurasian Kestrel and the rarer Hobby. The pond in the back was where Georges, a month ago, had found and photographed a Collared Pranticole, the last area record for which was in 1945! No pratincole, but bathing Corn Buntings capped off an extraordinary day.