The municipality of Nîmes organizes nature outings twice a month. This Sunday, August 21 in the morning, it was on the theme of birds at the Jardins de la fontaine. The opportunity to understand the evolution of the fauna on the edges of the city center.
This Sunday morning during the themed visit “The birds of the gardens”, you have to open your eyes wide but especially your ears. Sylvain Bidot, nature guide from the City’s biodiversity service, frequently stops mid-sentence despite the attentive and silent listening of his group of about ten people.
These interruptions come from starlings, tits or turtle doves. If you can’t see them all, the guide’s explanations, supplemented by photos shown, allow you to visualize their way of life which “comes into nature like a puzzle.”
A variety of species depending on the period
The facilitator estimates that on each “Garden Birds” outing, ten or even twenty different species can be observed.
However, it is difficult to identify a dominant one: “It depends on the period” moderates the nature host, referring to the phenomenon of migration. In this month of August, it would rather be the sedentary great tits, or the warblers, which migrate in autumn.
Victims of drought and fires
If all suffered from the heat wave, it is more the species “with small movements” such as passerines which would be impacted, for the most part thirsty. Regarding the fires, it is too early to accurately report the effect on the poultry population.
If several colonies “go elsewhere” following the destruction of their habitat or their summer residence, the move is far from simple. Some species persist in their destination, even if it is no longer habitable. “The birds, when they have decided on something, they will go through with it, even if it means dying.”
The guide explains how this behavior results in the disappearance of colonies. He cites the example of bee-eaters, once very numerous at Clos Gaillard. Despite the increased presence of predators, they continue to nest in this place. Sylvain Bidot claims to have seen only two this year.