During a recent meeting in Tarifa, celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Montagu's Harrier project, we learned about a bird that is sometimes heard but seldom seen: the Red-necked Nightjar. We decided to travel to Seville to meet up with the presenter of this very interesting chat about this intriguing species, Carlos Camacho.
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Thanks for having us here
today, Carlos! Where are you from?
I’m from Seville, in the south
of Spain.
What do you do exactly?
I am a Ramón y Cajal
researcher at the Doñana Biological Station. That’s a kind of tenure track,
like a junior investigator, before becoming a permanent one. It sounds
complicated, and it is. Scientific investigation is complicated.
Do you consider what you do
as work or as a hobby?
It’s work, that’s for sure.
But it’s the kind of work that I like. And the way to becoming a researcher
hasn’t been easy. I am now lucky to have the freedom to decide what I want to
spend my time on. Some of my friends tell me I have never worked in my life. It’s
true that there are parts of the job that I like, but then there are some
aspects that I like less. It really can be a hard job. The most difficult part
in my opinion is to combine it with your daily life, as I work a lot at night.
Another aspect is to find funding. In science, it’s easier to get funding for
short term projects, but in the case of the Nightjars, which is a project that
requires more time in order to collect usable information, it’s more difficult.
Most projects are for a period of three years, but this one’s different. It’s
been going on for fifteen years now.
Starting out as a young
investigator, like I was back in the days, is difficult as well. You may have
to move even to different countries to work. In my case, I worked on a project
in Sweden, three thousand kilometres away from home. But mostly, as I said,
it’s about finding financing. Not just to pay me for the work that I do, but
think of special equipment that might be needed for research, like GPS
receivers, or when we have to send samples of a bird’s excrement to a
laboratory to investigate their diet. Those extras cost thousands of euros.
Where does your interest for
nature and birds come from?
I wouldn’t say anyone in
particular has influenced me in a significant way. When I was little I went out
in nature, explored things and got hooked, by myself.
Carlos posing with Celia
Why are you currently doing research on the Nightjar?
First of all, because there
was a complete lack of data about this species. It’s alarming when there is a
decline of a species, but it’s almost as bad when you don’t have enough evidence
to prove it. You also have to take into consideration a species’ lifespan to
have a trustworthy look on the evolution. Comparing an elephant’s evolution to
a little bird’s, for example, would require a completely different approach. We
have managed to do this for the Nightjar for the first time, thanks to all the
data that we have collected over time. This species is now officially
catalogued as ‘Vulnerable’. Consequently, the authorities are now obliged to
take further conservation steps. This is what happened with the Montagu’s
Harrier. Our data can serve as a guideline for a conservation programme. The
authorities have the information, now it’s up to them to act. Ideally, measures
should be taken to improve the adult birds’ lives, thereby increasing their
productivity rate in order to bring the decline to a halt and eventually even
turn it around.
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| A Nightjar blending in with the forest floor thanks to its superb camouflage |
You are now doing research on the Red-necked Nightjar. I guess that must be your favourite bird?
A lot of people would think it
is, but surprisingly it is a different one. I like seabirds a lot, because of
their lifestyle and the long journeys they undertake. I like Terns a lot! They
are very elegant. If I had to pick out one, I’d go for the Little Tern: a very
humble species, yet very beautiful.
Do you go out birding a lot,
in your free time?
Each time less. I already
spend a lot of time with birds professionally, so in my free time I prefer to
do other things. I do go out occasionally, also to take photographs, but than
in a very relaxed way. I have two kids and I try to convey my passion for
nature.
Carlos and Henry in front of the Biological Station in Doñana
Do you have an idea of how
many different species you have seen?
I have never really been
interested in that number, to be honest. I have never got into my car to go and
observe a rare species somewhere. I’d much rather watch a common species
hunting, for example, than just catch a glimpse of a rare bird. For
professional reasons, and working abroad, I have seen many species, I’m sure it
must be over a thousand, but I stopped keeping track of them. In Spain I’ve
seen almost all the species that we have here, but as soon as you travel to a
country in a different continent, you get to see hundreds of new species. In
Ecuador for instance, it’s easy to see five hundred different types.
Can you tell us any special
anecdote?
Sure! Not directly related to
birds, but I remember one evening while I was working in Doñana, my wife called
me from the hospital to tell me that she had broken her wrist. I had to tell
her that I couldn’t hear her very well, because a Lynx was screaming right
beside me. I had to get into my car to hear her well. That goes to show how
privileged we are sometimes.
Another time while I was
working on the Galapagos Islands, I was holding a tracking antenna and one of
the birds perched on it, just out of curiosity.
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| Striking moment: Galapagos Flycatcher perching on a tracking antenna |
You have been to a lot of amazing
places! If you could travel anywhere else, where would you go?
There are quite a few places
I’d love to visit! Papua New Guinea, for example. I would love to see the mythical birds
of paradise! And also Madagascar, because of the breath-taking landscapes. However,
my favourite ecosystem is the desert. It seems to be devoid of any form of
life, but that couldn’t be further from the truth, there is a whole hidden
world out there, very interesting!
We hope you can go there one day! For now, many thanks for your time, hope to see you again soon!
Celia & Henry
More information about the project: