Whatever other family history there has been, my father has had the good taste to retire to a quaint village in Provence and his guest room is always open. This alone absolves him of much.
I visited once before as a birder, in late March. Ill-prepared, I found the experience quite frustrating and managed to scratch up about a dozen lifers. Not this time. Though arriving too late for migrants, the breeders were enough -- 62 lifers, many of which were found within walking distance of my father's house.
My father lives in Villes-sur-Auzon. It's a charming village of about 1100, due east of Carpentras, the nearest town of size. It's as one would expect. A small downtown quickly gives way to vineyards, cherry and apricot orchards, and olive groves. The tiny stream known as the Auzon winds through it all.
The first afternoon relaxing in my father's garden produced four lifers: Serin, Goldfinch, Black Redstart and Common Swift. The town itself held House Martins and a Scops Owl that called at night from the sycamores.
Daily walks took me not only through the fields but up into live and scrub oak. The tangles turned up Melodious and Sardinian Warblers, Whitethroat, Stonechat and Whinchat, Redstart and Nightingale. I found Blackbird (a thrush), Bonelli's Warbler, Cuckoo, Turtle Dove, Jay, and Great Spotted Woodpecker in the woods. Buzzard and Sparrowhawk soared overhead.
But the best bird by far was a resident Hoopoe, the only one I would see.
Side trips led to sightings of two flying Little Bitterns at the pond at Monieux and Great-crested Grebe and Common Tern from the blind at the reserve on the Durance River at Merindol.
I know a lot of these birds are common to you folks in Europe, but that's the beauty of it. They weren't common to me, and therefore a thrill. I bet you'd be impressed with our cardinal the first time you saw it.
France provided such wonderful birding overall, but you really have to prepare. The delights are tucked away, and I bet there are many more rarities than get reported, as there are so few birders compared to the extent of the habitat.
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.
For a variety of reasons (see my blog name), the primary bird I wanted to see in France was the Monk Vulture, also known as the Black Vulture.
For quite some time, all four species of European vulture were extirpated from France. For a fascinating article about this, focusing on Michel Terrasse, who first reintroduced Griffon and Monk Vultures to the Gorges de la Nesque in the Cevennes National Park, go here and click the text or PDF files at the bottom.
Christian Tessier followed suit in 1991, reintroducing Griffon Vultures near the charming medieval village of Remuzat, in the Drome department north of Vaucluse. It was a perfect location, since the Rocher du Caire, a cliffside which comes to a point like a ship's prow, towers over the village on the far side of the Eygues River. The Griffons took to their new location so beautifully, Monk Vultures were added in a couple of years back. The result, to everyone's delight, was the spontaneous reappearance of Egyptian Vultures. So, at the right time, and with a little luck, you can go to Remuzat and see three of Europe's four vultures in one spot.
That's exactly what I hoped to do. I rented a car and got a room in the town's only hotel, the Hotel Baudoin, a remodeled 17th c. carriage inn.
I looked out the window at the cliffside and BAM, there were the vultures. The innkeeper told me I could access a road through the next town over, St. May, and get to a point where I could walk to the clifftop. I plopped down my bags and did just that.
The Griffon Vultures are by far the most gregarious of the lot, soaring together along the cliff and even nesting communally on its shelves. The Monk Vulture is quite solitary and nests in trees.
Hiking through lovely subalpine meadows, one does connect with a path that skirts the entire cliffside. The impressive result is that one is often looking down on the vultures. That is, when they don't loft up to scrutinize the status of your mortality. The Griffons were abundant, but just as I got to the top overlook, a Monk Vulture lofted up on my right, greeting me like a long-lost cousin. It's the only one I would see, and though I went up twice, I dipped on the Egyptian.
The meadows provided me with two other lifers: Linnet and Ortolan Bunting.
I decided to go home via Mont Ventoux. This is the famous Provencal mountain that provides the Tour de France bikers with their most arduous challenge and the only place to pick up alpine species in the area.
My main target was Black Woodpecker, said to inhabit the mature mid-slope pine forests. Well, I searched everywhere I could and didn't even hear a woodpecker of any kind, much less see one. I also scoured the bare scree at the top for Alpine Accentor, but the best I could do was Northern Wheatear. The other lifers I picked up on Ventoux were Citril Finch and Crested Tit.
Just back from a marvelous two weeks staying at my father's house in Villes-sur-Auzon, a small village in the Vaucluse department of Provence. The birding was infinitely better than a late March trip I took a few years back. To wit -- I thought I would come home with 30-40 lifers. I actually snagged 62. The full list follows, with lifers in bold, and detailed descriptions elsewhere. Note that I did not go to the seacoast and that migration had finished.
1. Great Crested Grebe
2. Great Cormorant
3. Little Bittern
4. Grey Heron
5. Purple Heron
6. Little Egret
7. Mute Swan
8. Mallard
9. Griffon Vulture
10. Monk Vulture
11. Marsh Harrier
12. Black Kite
13. Buzzard
14. Sparrowhawk
15. Kestrel
16. Hobby
17. Red-legged Partridge
18. Coot
19. Little Bustard
20. Little Ringed Plover
21. Common Sandpiper
22. Yellow-legged Gull
23. Common Tern
24. Woodpigeon
25. Rock Dove
26. Turtle Dove
27. Collared Dove
28. Scops Owl
29. Hoopoe
30. Bee-eater
31. Cuckoo
32. Great Spotted Woodpecker
33. Skylark
34. Woodlark
35. Common Swift
36. Alpine Swift
37. House Martin
38. Swallow
39. Sand Martin
40. Crag Martin
41. White Wagtail
42. Yellow Wagtail
43. Northern Wheatear
44. Black-eared Wheatear
45. Robin
46. Stonechat
47. Whinchat
48. Nightingale
49. Black Redstart
50. Redstart
51. Blackbird
52. Blackcap
53. Sardinian Warbler
54. Whitethroat
55. Chiffchaff
56. Bonelli’s Warbler
57. Melodious Warbler
58. Woodchat Shrike
59. Great Tit
60. Coal Tit
61. Blue Tit
62. Crested Tit
63. Long-tailed Tit
64. Magpie (recently split from N.A. Black-billed)
65. Jay
66. Starling
67. Carrion Crow
68. Jackdaw
69. Raven
70. Chaffinch
71. Goldfinch
72. Greenfinch
73. Citril Finch
74. Serin
75. Linnet
76. Crossbill
77. House Sparrow
78. Tree Sparrow
79. Corn Bunting
80. Ortolan Bunting
81. Cirl Bunting
Birds I searched for diligently but didn't turn up: Egyptian Vulture; Short-toed Eagle; Stone Curlew; Roller; Kingfisher; Black Woodpecker; Water and Meadow Pipits; Rock, Blue Rock, Song and Mistle Thrushes; Reed, Great Reed, Cetti's, Fan-tailed, Subalpine, Dartford, Wood and Garden Warblers; Marsh Tit; Golden Oriole; Rook; Rock Sparrow; Alpine Accentor; and Yellowhammer. But that's a pretty good list to hunt for next time, no?