{"id":1218,"date":"2024-07-11T15:05:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T15:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/?p=1218"},"modified":"2025-07-10T15:07:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T15:07:55","slug":"faithful-flock-to-bird-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/faithful-flock-to-bird-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Faithful flock to bird conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text by McCade Hayes<\/a>
Photos by Autumn DeGrazia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the heat of July in a rural region of Arles, France, a team of A Rocha bird conservationists tread past pastures of bulls raised for the arena and through fields of sunflowers. The footing is rough, especially encumbered by a ladder and backpacks full of equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conservationists walk toward one of their small nest boxes in order to ring a group of adolescent European rollers as part of their ongoing study. A Rocha is an international Christian organization working on nature preservation and environmental education. Within Arles, A Rocha is working on a project focused on the study of the European roller, a stocky blue and brown bird that has experienced decreasing populations throughout the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz climbs into a tree to retrieve motion sensor cameras. These cameras are used in order to track tags of the birds who migrate to the nesting boxes designed by A Rocha researchers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Rocha is actively working in more than 20 countries around the world, preserving the environment with the motivation of Christian ideals and the hard work of conservationists who come from all different cultures. The prevalence of Christian ideals changes the mindset of conservation workers with A Rocha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoining our faith with our work is a privilege,\u201d said Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz, the scientific director of A Rocha France. \u201cIt\u2019s super motivating that we can do what we love to do and with a higher purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That motivation gives volunteers a shift in thought about the goal of their work in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like working for A Rocha is more of a mission, so we don’t expect big salaries,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cWe get the satisfaction of doing the work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Left to right) Emily Walker, G\u00e1bor V\u00e1gner, and Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz review footage from the motion sensor camera previously mounted on a bird box. After three days, there were 45,000 photos to go through from a single camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Rocha has two locations in France. The main office is located in the Domaine des Courmettes, located between Grasse and Vence. This site in the southeast corner of France focuses on education and awareness of climate issues, while also managing the preservation of 600 hectares of land. The Domaine des Courmettes\u2019 doors are open to tourists and curious minds wanting to learn more about ecology in the south of France. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second location, Mas Mireille, is located 20 minutes from the city center of Arles. This location is dedicated to scientific research mostly on the European roller, but also extending to butterflies, dragonflies, spiders and reptiles. This research center covers 2,000 hectares of land, with bird boxes used to track habitats. Mas Mireille\u2019s projects are funded through public donations, government grants and university funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz measures a roller\u2019s leg, from thigh to foot, to track the growth of the bird, which is registered into the A Rocha database.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz focuses primarily on the European roller at the Mas Mireille center. The rollers are classified as sit-and-wait-hunters. The parents hunt by sitting atop tall perches such as trees or telephone poles, looking for insects or small lizards to swoop down on before returning to their nests to feed their babies. After hatching, the roller takes on average 30 days to fledge, and then leaves the nest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Izabela Kujawiak, in front, and Ga\u00ebtan Ganivet input data from the new museum tags put on European Rollers into the A Rocha servers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The research Schwartz leads largely consists of ringing the species and analyzing the data from monitoring migration patterns with their tags. Ringing is a process for researching bird migration patterns or population numbers where a small ring is placed around the leg of the bird with a specific number so that the bird can be later identified by spotters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Left to right) G\u00e1bor V\u00e1gner, Emily Walker, Sarah Marc, Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz and other volunteers pray before eating lunch together. Each day a different volunteer of A Rocha makes a meal from their home country to share with the others.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Volunteers are able to identify the roller using the rings in combination with motion-sensor cameras. By identifying the roller, A Rocha is able to track whether or not the birds are returning to their native nests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Emily Walker, left, and Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz review images from the motion sensor cameras from bird boxes. They recognized an unfamiliar tag and traced it back to a research center in Spain. It is rare to find European rollers migrate to other nests than their native territories.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For volunteers, working with A Rocha can be a great way to get field experience as a conservationist while also learning about the actual scientific process of conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Emily Walker looks through binoculars to view rollers flying around the trees where bird boxes are located. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRinging the birds, being a part of that process, is a lot of fun,\u201d said Emily Walker, a volunteer for A Rocha Mas Mireille. \u201cHaving the opportunity to be a part of such a unique research project like this is very cool. There\u2019s a very small number of people in this world who have actually been able to hold a roller. It\u2019s a big privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rollers are now currently threatened. The species has declining population numbers, with a 20% population decrease across Europe. The largest threats facing rollers in the modern day are shrinking habitat areas and poaching. Poachers often steal fledglings from their nest boxes and sell them on the black market as pets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Louis Sanz, left, and Emily Walker, right, take note of the rollers\u2019 sizes to use later for their research project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Rocha researchers gather data and upload it to scientific databases, making it accessible to other researchers working with the roller. This can help scientists compare research and identify birds that have migrated to different regions of Europe to nest. Schwartz is currently working on a book on the species based on research done with A Rocha. The publication of this research helps motivate conservationist volunteers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the analysis, the writing up, and helping with being published,\u201d said Walker, who graduated with a master\u2019s in biology from the University of Manchester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A roller is put into a bag so it can be brought back to the bird box after being ringed with museum tags. Approximately five birds get ringed from each bird box at a time. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Rocha is unusual in the research world because it combines Christianity and environmental conservationism. Though the volunteers are not all Christian, many find hope within their faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker said that the environmental sector \u201ccan be a pretty pessimistic place. There\u2019s not a lot of hope if you look at the data and the stats.\u201d However, by combining her conservation work with her Christian faith, she feels a sense of purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m not going to save the world,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI don’t need to save the world, but it’s still important what I do and I’m not doing it for myself. I’m doing it to glorify God and to look after his creation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Timoth\u00e9e Schwartz climbs down from a bird box after ringing birds and returning them to their nests. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Text by McCade HayesPhotos by Autumn DeGrazia In the heat of July in a rural region of Arles,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Final_ARocha_001_Recropped-4-1-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1218"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1497,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions\/1497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}