In recent years, a number of nest boxes have been installed along the route, in collaboration with the Groupe des Amoureux de la Nature en Lavaux (GANaL, https://ganal.ch). These nest boxes are mainly intended for the hoopoe and the ant-harrier, two species that had disappeared from our region as a result of changes to their habitat.
The hoopoe is one of our country's most beautiful bird species. It is a medium-sized bird with orange plumage and rounded black and white wings. It has an erectile hoopoe with black tips and a long, arched beak with which it searches for larvae and insects in the ground. The hoopoe spends the winter in the Sahel region and migrates north to nest. It is particularly fond of high orchards and dry stone walls, which provide cavities where it can raise its young. It can be seen in Switzerland from mid-March to September. Since the 1970s, it had disappeared from the entire Plateau. Today, it is present mainly in Valais; a few pairs have also been observed in Ticino, Grisons and the Lake Geneva basin, notably on the Lavaux golf course.
The ant-eating woodpecker, a small bird with bark-coloured plumage that gives it excellent camouflage, is unlike any other woodpecker. It feeds almost exclusively on ants, which it catches on the ground with its long tongue. Like the hoopoe, it winters in the Sahel and returns to our region in mid-March. This fascinating bird has developed the ability to imitate a snake to ward off potential predators: when it feels threatened, it contorts its body and swings its head, twisting its neck; if this is not enough, it even sticks out its tongue and hisses, like a snake ready to attack! Over the last few decades, the torcole's numbers have fallen sharply, mainly as a result of the grubbing-up of high-stem orchards. In recent years, thanks to the introduction of targeted protection measures, torcols have once again been seen in the Lavaux region.
Both the hoopoe and the ant-torcola are threatened species on the red list of the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach. The installation of nest boxes specifically adapted to these two species on the Lavaux golf course, as well as the presence of tall fruit trees, will help to maintain viable populations in Switzerland.
