By Jamie Hall

With scratches and scars still visible, Trinity Western University (TWU) student Trish Buhler talks about manoeuvering in and around thistles, barbed wire fences, brambles and fields of tall grass. She spent five weeks at the A Rocha field centre in Provence, France. This is the first time TWU has partnered with A Rocha for a travel study.

Arriving at the centre this past June, the 23 year old  began work on a study of the European roller bird. She said the presence of the roller is a measure of the health of the land, since the bird eats large insects which only exist in sufficient numbers if the local farmers are not using pesticides.

A Rocha France is trying to encourage rollers to inhabit the area by persuading the local farmers to plant more of the tree hedges that the birds nest in. The field centre is counting the birds, which requires researchers such as Buhler to bike to all the current nesting sites in the area.

Another part of her research was to help tag the birds. But this bird doesn’t take kindly to being caught, she said, noting: “It was pretty scary to hold the rollers, because they are actually pretty vicious. They have sharp beaks and you have to keep your hands tightly on the roller so it can’t bite you.”

Buhler was impressed with the scientific quality of the effort.

“It was interesting to see how how A Rocha's study contributes to the national and international academic worlds,” she said.

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Buhler returned home to Canada with an increased passion for the environment. As TWU’s A Rocha student chapter president, she has been invited to attend a retreat in Twin Cities, Minnesota for student environmental group leaders from across North America. She hopes to have a career in conservation, upon graduation.

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