Sara Fraixedas: “When the territory speaks, you discover species that don't appear in any guide”

In one of the most remote and unknown regions of Africa, on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, a pioneering initiative has been born: the first participatory bird guide in northern Kenya . It is a project co-created by the indigenous community of Ileret that collects 142 species of birds in Daasanach, their local language, and in English. The guide was presented last January and will also be featured at the upcoming Delta Birding Festival .

Behind all this, there is the enthusiasm and passion for birds of Sara Fraixedas , postdoctoral researcher in the Beatriu de Pinós program at CREAF and the Catalan Institute of Ornithology (ICO), who promoted the creation of this guide together with Daniel Burgas , researcher at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland).

Sara is a biodiversity researcher, specializing in the study of birds as indicators of environmental change. She works on projects that analyze how climate change and land use affect forest and agricultural bird populations, and their implications for conservation.

We spoke to her to tell us more about this fascinating chapter of her career.

It all started in March 2016, when I participated in an expedition to Kenya while doing my PhD at the University of Helsinki. The aim of that expedition was to conduct a socio-ecological inventory of Sibiloi National Park on behalf of the Kenyan Wildlife Service . That area of northern Kenya, and especially the shores of Lake Turkana, is a key migration site for many Palearctic bird species.

Furthermore, it is an extremely remote area, only accessible by plane from Nairobi. The fact that it is such an isolated area means that it is home to very interesting species from a biological point of view, including endemic, rare and threatened species. All of them, very little studied.

We could say that the initiative came directly from the local Daasanach community. After the second expedition in 2016 and 2017, we realized that if we really wanted to inventory the area over a long period of time, we had to count on the support and collaboration of the local people.

We immediately saw that they had a great interest in the biodiversity of their environment and were very open to collaborating to inventory the birds of the area together. It was in this context, then, that the creation of the Bird Club Ileret was promoted. In fact, the group ended up being made up mostly of women, who saw in the project an opportunity to learn, to participate.

We met with the elders, the elders and wise men of the community, to document the bird species in the area. The proposal included that the guide be written in both their language and English, with the aim of preserving and sharing local knowledge and making it accessible to young people. As recognized authorities within the community, the elders received the initiative with great interest.

From there, we began to jointly design different outings and activities to collect data and observations, always with the help of translators and local guides. We were inspired by traditional field guides, but with a clearly participatory approach and a pedagogical component, since the aim was that the guide could also be used as educational material in schools in the area. We organized regular outings and training sessions, some in the form of games, to make learning more accessible and enjoyable.

Yes. For many of them, it was the first time they had access to these types of materials and technologies, and their curiosity and ability to learn were impressive. We taught them how to use binoculars, telescopes, computers and tools like Word and Excel. We also introduced them to the use of the eBird application. The binoculars and telescopes were the result of a very generous donation from the Delta Birding Festival.

I remember when I first arrived there, everything deeply impacted me. The territory is extremely harsh: it is very hot, there is a shortage of water and flash floods can destroy everything in a matter of minutes. It is a place where you have to leave behind many of the values and references of the Western world.

The reality there is complex: there are tribal conflicts, many people are armed, and in some contexts, killing can be considered a symbol of power. Despite these conditions, the people live there with an admirable attitude. They speak happily, share what they have and maintain a strong community spirit. We really have a lot to learn from them.

The community had a deep knowledge of the territory and the species that inhabit it, including some that do not appear in any database or conventional guide. Throughout the project we have found species that do not appear in traditional guides, which usually cover a wider territorial range and are not as specific at the level of local regions.

It was surprising that in such a small area we could find up to six species of vultures, as many of them are threatened or in critical danger of extinction, mainly due to poisoning, habitat loss and the trafficking of parts for traditional medicine.

In general, the diversity of species there is spectacular, but some observations that struck me were those of the lice, such as the Sahel wild lice or the Kori wild lice, which is the protagonist of the cover of the guide. And the other species that really impressed me to see is the African scissor-billed grebe, because of the way it flies low over the water with its beak open to catch fish, it is exceptional.

From the beginning, we were very clear that we were not there to teach, but to learn. We talked a lot with the community, and this created a strong and sincere bond. On the one hand, I think that the fact that a team of scientists was interested in their knowledge, their culture, their environment and their way of connecting with nature, had great value for them.

On the other hand, we have seen that this project has been an empowerment tool for many people, especially for women who, at the beginning, even asked us for permission to participate. In addition, most of them cannot read and, for this reason, we wanted to make the guide very illustrative, both in English and in their local language. Now, these women have become references on local biodiversity and environmental education within their community.

For now, the guides have been distributed to schools as a resource for learning the local language. In the short term we do not plan to do more activities, as it is very difficult to find resources for this type of project. However, we do plan to train one or two people from the Bird Club by participating in an introductory course in ornithology in another region of Kenya.

Currently, we are in contact with a guy from the community who is keeping us up to date on everything they do, and we are happy to know that the Bird Club still organizes outings from time to time to observe birds, even though we are not there to support them.

Absolutely. This guide highlights local knowledge, promotes interest in the biodiversity of indigenous communities themselves and breaks with educational inequalities, especially among women. When scientific knowledge is combined with traditional knowledge, the result is very enriching. Local people often know much more than we imagine; the challenge is to make them aware of the value of this knowledge.

The guide was developed with the support of the University of Helsinki, the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) , the Delta Birding Festival and the Barcelona Zoo Foundation , and was mentioned in the film Shepherds of the Earth , where the Bird Club appears as an example of citizen science in remote places.

For now, the guide cannot be purchased in any store. 200 copies were made, half of which were sent to Kenya. The remaining copies will be taken to the next Delta Birding Festival. However, Sara was able to bring us a copy to the CREAF office, and we assure you that every time we look at it, we will think about how lucky the town of Ileret was.

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