Loop trail of Chalets du Truc by Côte du Plane

It is a cave species, which means that it digs cavities in trees in order to install its nest and deposit its eggs! These cavities are called "lodges".
These lodges are often reused by other species, which are then called "host species", which can be birds, such as small mountain owls (Little Owl or Tengmalm), or mammals, such as the Pine Marten, a mustelid, cousin of the Weasel.

Do you know the smallest nocturnal birds of prey in France? It's the Eurasian pygmy owl, a little mountain owl! It is an emblem of the nature reserve where it lives in particular in old coniferous forests. Its presence is linked to good forest management, preserving both its breeding areas (old trees where woodpeckers such as the Three-toed Woodpecker peck holes in which Pygmy Owls nest) and areas of forest clearings, where it can hunt mice, voles, tits and other passerines on which it feeds.

As its name suggests, it has only three toes on each leg while the other woodpeckers have four toes!
It is however very agile in climbing trees, and is the nightmare of xylophagous insects, which feed on wood, and in particular the Spruce Bark Beetle, the main ingredient of its daily menu!
Be discreet, its drumming, a way of communicating by tapping its beak on the trunks or branches, is not very audible. The nature reserve is one of the few areas where this species is still present.

A spindle-shaped apparition... A plain white body during the winter or a brown back and beige belly in the summer, with the tip of its tail black all year round... Guess who is playing hide-and-seek in the scree?

It is the Stoat, a small, fast and powerful mustelid, from the same family as Badgers and Martens. It actually doesn’t play but it hunts Voles, its favorite prey, thanks to its slender body which allows it to slip into the voles underground tunnels, where this prey unfortunately feels save.

The Christmas tree growing in our mountains is naturally adapted to the alpine climate conditions and does not fear the cold! It has cones of which many birds are fond of. You can tell it apart from Fir three by the shape of the cones: pointy, elongated and hanging for the Norway Spruce and roundy and upright for the Fir three. It is used in different ways. Its resistant wood is appreciated in carpentry, marine carpentry and violin making. Its fragrant resin is also used to make turpentine.