Robert Daniel Etchecopar (1905 – 1990) was an ornithologist, explorer, and educator.
The late Robert Daniel Etchecopar was one of the leading and mostly widely acclaimed ornithologists in the world. As early as 1950 he played a pioneering role in attracting scientific attention to endangered species. An intrepid explorer, he travelled the globe and for over fifty years sounded the alarm against damage by deforestation, intensive agriculture, pesticides and pollution of every kind. At the age of 29, a qualified Doctor in Law, he abandoned his profession to devote his career entirely to ornithology.
Descended from an ancient Basque family, as a small boy of eight, Etchecopar was sent to Great Britain to learn English. Two passions were born during these five years, firstly, a love of nature, specifically bird watching and secondly, a passion for the history of civilizations.
Contents
From Law to Ornithology
In 1934, as a trainee lawyer, Etchecopar was asked to evaluate a collection of eggshells and went to the Museum of Natural History in Paris to obtain an opinion from the museum’s scientists. He was received by Professor Jacques Berlioz, future holder of the Chair of Ornithology at the Museum. This visit sparked off a period of deep consideration and finally, Etchecopar decided to follow his dream and devoted his future career to natural history.
In his book Des Hommes et des Oiseaux, Pierre Pelerin, a leading natural history writer and journalist, said of Etchecopar: “His arrival in the world of ornithology can only be considered as a gift from Providence”. And he went on to add: “The census of our skies has now begun”.
Follow the Birds !
On a personal note, R.D. Etchecopar was fascinated by the desert, which, he often said, was the most fertile land in the quest for spirituality. It was in the desert that he lived the happiest moments in the pursuit of his science; indeed, one of his most significant discoveries took place in the Northern Sahara. A nomad through and through, his life’s work was devoted to the study of bird migration and desert birds from the Canary Islands to China along the “highways of the skies” as Etchecopar put it.
Although subjugated by the splendour of spectacular birds, Etchecopar’s predilection was for small birds that accomplished such valiant migratory journeys. “Small, only in size,” he often said. Confessing that although he had been around the world many times, he did not completely understand a small bird.
Scientific Works
From 1950 onwards, R.D. Etchecopar and his inseparable co-author and co-explorer, François Hüe.[1], were tireless in their pursuit of the mysteries of bird life. This duo took on the task of completing a series books which became the standard works of reference the world over. In an era where GPS, computers and internet did not exist they traversed the planet, to discover and study the bird populations of the world --- by caravan, by ten-ton truck, jeep, land rover, train, plane and bus -- on foot and by came l!
After ten years of intensive scientific research at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, interspersed with numerous field expeditions they had explored all of the North African and Middle Eastern countries.
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In 1956 Etchecopar and Hüe completed their 138-page book Données écologiques sur l’avifaune dans la zone désertique arabo-saharienne. This book was an influential work since it was commissioned by UNESCO to launch their global campaign for endangered species. Their 606-page reference work Les Oiseaux de l’Afrique du Nord was published in 1964, with the English edition The Birds of North Africa appearing in 1967. A further work comprising 950 pages The Birds of the Near and Middle East was published in 1970. After pioneering expeditions further east beyond Afghanistan and Iran, in 1978 and 1983 respectively, Etchecopar published a mammoth, Birds of China, Mongolia and Korea in two volumes totaling 1204 pages. Although these books were published after François Hüe death in 1972, R.D. Etchecopar signed with their two names to honor the memory of his friend.
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With Christian Erard, Etchecopar published a 146-page memoir Contribution to the study of birds in Iran. Result of the Etchecopar Mission of 1967 (Memoir of the Museum, 1970).
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A volume of 1200 page comprised of articles written between 1942 and 1985 for national and international ornithological and natural history magazines was compiled in 1988.
When Writer meets Artist
The above-mentioned works were exquisitely illustrated by Paul Barruel (1901–1982). No mention of Etchecopar’s work would be complete without a tribute to this exceptional and world-renowned artist known as the “Audubon of small birds”. Barruel was a naturalist of the first order, an artist whose superb aquarelles showing both the bird and its natural habitat illustrated Etchecopar’s texts with exactitude and beauty. Both men were lovers of botany and entomology. Both imbued with the scientist’s care for precision and authenticity. And both were enamoured with the beauty of small birds. A fervent admirer of Barruel, Etchecopar was his discreet sponsor for over 40 years. Their meeting and lifelong friendship has left the world of ornithology an artistic and scientific legacy second to none.
Career in Ornithology
Etchecopar pursued his life’s work on a national and international level from his base at the Natural History Museum in Paris. During the War, under particularly perilous conditions, Etchecopar served as Liaison Officer at the headquarters of the 12th British Division in Brittany.
In 1946 and 1947 he participated in the creation of the International Union for Nature Conservation which inspired the World Wildlife Fund.
In 1946 he was appointed Secretary General of the Société Ornithologique de France and was its driving force for over 40 years.
In 1954 he was named Director of the Centre de Recherche sur les Migrations des Mammifères et des Oiseaux (CRMMO) at the Natural History Museum in Paris. On his retirement, Etchecopar served as its Honorary President[2].
Etchecopar was actively associated with several international ornithological societies :
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Honorary Member of the American Ornithological Union;
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Member of the International Committee of Ornithology;
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Correspondent Member of both the British Ornithological Union and the Deutsche Ornithologische Gesellschaft;
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Board Member of the Société Nationale de Protection de la Nature, as well as of the Fond Français pour la Nature et l’Environnement;
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Etchecopar was also a member of international associations for the protection of natural resources such as the International Committee for Bird Protection, the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux, and the Fondation Beauguillot among others.
EURING: European Committee for Bird Ringing Ringing birds consists of placing a metal plaque on its leg that it can be identified individually. Initially, ringing was designed to study the migration patterns of birds to acquire knowledge on their lifespan, their number, travels and mating patterns. Today the objectives are not limited to migration but increasingly the focus is on the ecology of species and their tendencies for evolution or change. As head of the French Ringing Committee for tracking bird migration, Etchecopar soon realized the necessity for European-wide coordination. In 1963 he founded EURING and was elected its first President. Under his Presidency of EURING, Etchecopar initiated the bird ringing system on other continents: ASIARING and AFRING. He was later elected President of the International Bird Ringing Committee.
The Educator
Finding and sharing information
As well as the above-mentioned expeditions relating to specific books, Etchecopar and Hüe also explored many other countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Today, certain of these, such as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, the Sudan and Syria no longer allow such initiatives. The findings of Etchecopar and Hüe, therefore, are all the more valuable since their work represents the only scientific information we have on the birdlife and avifauna of these countries.
Formal international congresses
Every four years formal ornithological congresses were held across the world on different continents. These meetings were a platform for ornithologists to share information and discoveries; the meetings were also an opportunity to galvanize scientific institutions, governments, industry leaders and scholars to take action on wildlife issues on a global level. In his role as advocate for natural history concerns, Etchecopar’s experience as a jurist was of great benefit here. He was gifted with both a creative and pragmatic intelligence able to draw up proposals on strategic issues and then accelerate the implementation of corresponding laws. In marketing terms, Etchecopar was a “mover and a shaker”.
Grass Roots Campaigns
On a more popular level, MM Etchecopar and Hüe were veritable “pros” in communications. They demonstrated talents both for assembling and diffusing new knowledge from their findings to many different audiences. Apart from the formal exchanges at congresses, they launched resounding campaigns using all media at their disposal: press, radio, image, sponsoring, lotteries, competitions, tombolas...
18 Million Stamps
Perhaps Etchecopar’s most audacious and successful communication coup was in cooperation with the French Government’s postal authorities. Wishing to attract the attention of the general public to the Centre de Recherche sur les Migrations des Mammifères et des Oiseaux (CRMMO) Etchecopar convinced the French Postal Ministry to print four stamps dedicated to bird life. Two stamps illustrated migratory birds and two showed the French nature reserves of the Camargue and the Seven Islands (Brittany). Demonstrating his tenacity and his exceptional ability to make things happen, Etchecopar’s awareness campaign took off with 18 million stamps being printed.
Other passions and interests
Oology
Thanks to his discoveries and as a leader in the science of ornithology, Etchecopar was given many collections of birds eggs[3]. These were partially inherited from the English side of his family and partially received as gifts from ornithologists around the world. Etchecopar’s in-depth study of these eggs made him a world expert. He gave his collection of 32,000 eggshells to the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Los Angeles (USA).
English History
Aside from ornithology, Etchecopar’s other boyhood passion was a love of English history – a deep interest which he pursued throughout his life. As a young man he hand painted 700 lead soldiers replicating the ceremony of the Coronation of King George V as Emperor of India at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. A scientist by profession, his research included contact with all the relevant historical and museum institutions both in England and India. He knew and reproduced every rank and regiment, every turban, every uniform.
The Bibliophile
Etchecopar the bird lover was also an ardent bibliophile and collector of the rare and the beautiful. Over the years he built up an exceptional 800-volume natural history library. Some books date back to the 19th century, with most being published in the 20th century. Many were personally dedicated by the authors and especially bound. This unique collection is a blend of scientific rigour in ornithology and in botany, captivating both for the expert and a general public. With the electronic age upon us, such a collection of books will never be printed again. The library thus belongs to the natural history patrimony of the world... especially since many birds are now an endangered species.
Artist and Sponsor
Etchecopar was a painter and sculptor himself. Throughout his life he also sponsored many upcoming natural history artists.
Honour and distinctions
Throughout his life Etchecopar received numerous awards and distinctions in acknowledgement of his work in ornithology. Perhaps his most treasured distinction, however, was the honour given to him by his colleagues at the Museum of Natural History: a small owl, endemic of the leafy savanna of the Ivory Coast was given the official scientific name of Glaucidium castaneum etchecopari. To name but a few of the honours received, Etchecopar was elected: - Officier d’Académie pour Services rendus aux Sciences (1950) - Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (1961) - Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1970) - Officier de l’Instruction Publique (1970) - Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (1979), and Lauréat du Prix de l’Académie des Sciences en 1979, as well as numerous French scientific rewards.
A pragmatic Dreamer
Robert Daniel Etchecopar, was a legend even in his own time: Explorer, Educator, Elemental Naturalist
SOURCES
- Carnets Secrets d’un Ornithologue. Texts by R.D. Etchecopar; updated by Frédéric Jiguet. 125 aquarelles by Paul Barruel, Publisher Larousse, 2013[4] - L’Oiseau et La Revue Française d’ornithologie, between 1942 et 1979 - Bulletin de La Société Ornithologique de France, between 1947 et 1979 - The Oologists’ Record, December 1952 - Naturàlia (Revista de Divulgaçao de Biologia & Historia Natural) N° 5 Janeiro 1955 - La Terre et La Vie, between 1957 and 1978 - Mémoire du Museum série A vol. XV, 1957 - Bulletin of the CRMMO (MNHN n°9) 1954 and 1955 - Proceedings of the XIIth International Ornithological Congress, Helsinki 1958 - The Ring n°38, 1964 - British Ornithologists’ Club vol. 90 n°6 December 1966
Christian ERARD, Ornithologist Professor at the M.N.H.N., Ecology department and biodiversity management.
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Co-authored with Christian Erard:
Contribution to the study of birds of Iran. Result of the Etchecopar Mission 1967, Museum memoir, 1970 (146 pages). François Hüe, Member of the Laboratory of Ornithology at the Natural History Museum of Paris
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Co-authored with François Hüe :
Données écologiques sur l’avifaune dans la zone désertique arabo-saharienne, in 1956 (138 pages). Les Oiseaux du Nord de l’Afrique, illustrated by Paul Barruel, Publisher Boubée, 1964 (606 pages). The Birds of North Africa, illustrated by Paul Barruel, Publisher Oliver & Boyd, 1967 (612 pages). Les Oiseaux du Proche et Moyen Orient, illustrated by Paul Barruel, Publisher Boubée, 1970 (950 pages). Les Oiseaux de Chine, de Mongolie et de Corée, 2 volumes:
Volume 1 illustrated by Paul Barruel and Francis Berille, Publisher Editions du Pacifique, 1978 (586 pages); Volume 2 illustrated by Patrick Suiro and Gilbert Armani, Publisher Société Nouvelle des Editions Boubée, 1983 (704 pages).
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Rencontre entre François Hüe et Robert-Daniel Etchecopar (http://www.spn-pezenas.org/pages/h2dlong.html);
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Directeur du Centre http://www.librairiedialogues.fr/personne/robert-daniel-etchecopar/366296/
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Directeur du Centre http://www.librairiedialogues.fr/personne/robert-daniel-etchecopar/366296/
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Carnets Secrets d’un ornithologue http://jne-asso.org/blogjne/tag=robert-daniel-etchecopar
