GOT International

The Lleida Farmer and his Unwelcome Guests                                                 

Proud and proprietorial, the male surveys the
scene atop his new home, daubed in green
paint and hung high up, compliments of GOT.

GOT MAKES THE                                    

PEACE – AND

A EUROPEAN ROLLER

PAIR GET THEIR CHICKS

European Roller (Coracias garrulus);Catalan:Gaig (/gʌtʃ /)  Blau; Spanish: Carraca Europea; German: Blauracke; French: Rollier d’Europe

In the wheat fields of Utxesa (/ʊˈtʃesə/) near the Catalan town of Lleida (/ˈljei.da:/), some 150 km from Barcelona, lives a farmer who has reason to be pretty pleased with himself. He’s got rid of a score of pesky migrant birds that had been invading his farmhouse every summer – and done his bit towards the conservation of a habitat for one of Europe’s most prized birds.

The story began in summer last year when he decided that he’d had enough of the birds – among whom was a pair of near-threatened European Rollers ­-- which had been nesting in numerous air vents in the walls of the farmhouse for years. He didn’t really mind them during the day. But with eventide came his nightmare. As the outdoor temperature hit the high 40s, the birds crawled through the holes and moved into his house. Perching wherever they could, they struck up their ear-splitting evening chorus that shattered not just his nerves and his peace of mind but his patience as well. At the end of summer 2009 the farmer decided he’d had enough. When the last of the birds flew off to their winter retreats, he blocked up every hole in his walls. That would have been the end of the story – and a new brood of European Rollers, had Barcelona birding professional  Roger Sanmartí not got wind of it. Roger managed to track down the farmer at the end of April this year and obtained his consent to put up a nest box on the farmhouse wall. The farmer also allowed him to erect a portable bird hide within shooting – photo-shooting --distance.

All set for the return of the Rollers –  Roger Sanmartí checks out his portable bird hide after putting up the nest box. A perching branch marks the hole – now cemented up – that used to be home for the Rollers. Picture by Photo-Logistics

Right on schedule in mid-May this year the Roller pair turned up, flew round the house looking for their home-in-the wall, and settled on the branch which marked the spot. It didn’t take the female long to make up her mind and, without much ado, she popped into the inviting nest box to survey the interior. Soon after, she laid three eggs and eight days later the chicks emerged.



Making themselves at home --the view from the bird hide. The male is indistinguishable from the female. Staking out for these memorable shots were long-time GOT collaborator Roger, and Photo-Logistics birding guides Anna Dalmau and Carles Santana.

Resplendent in its vivid plumage, the European roller (subspecies--garrulus Linnaeus) is the only member of the roller family to breed in Europe. Its brilliant blue and orange brown back is in stark contrast to its black flight feathers, making it one of the most beautiful birds to behold. The Roller’s midflight display is a spectacular series of twist and turns that givse the species it's English name. A creature of warm, dry, open country, it is a long-distance migrant, wintering in southern Africa in the region covering Senegal, Cameroon, Ethiopia, the Congo, and South Africa.

Roller chicks fledge fast, and within a month Utxesa’s Roller family were flapping their wings for the 6000km flight to their wintering grounds. They will be back next May, together with some 150 other pairs which fly into  Catalonia to breed.

Words: Abul Fazil 

Pictures by the Photo-Logistics team ( roger@photo-logistics.com)