Camargue regional natural park. How to get to pink flamingos

The Camargue lies at the mouth of the Rhone, on the Mediterranean coast, near the Strait of Sainte-Marie. The nearest international airport is in Marseille, on the eastern border of the Camargue. A dense network of roads, railways and canals connects the major cities to the west - Arles, Avignon and Montpellier.

The Camargue is a huge (about 1466 sq. km) coastal swamp, one of the most significant examples of this type of terrain in Europe. Once upon a time, during the times of the ancient and Roman Empire, the Mediterranean coast was decorated with a motley mosaic of marshes, which remained, for the most part, untouched until the 19th century. Then the drainage of large areas began in order to obtain land suitable for agriculture and eradicate malaria, eliminating conditions favorable for the breeding of mosquitoes; as a result, little remains of the swamps. The Camargue, however, is one of the regions that has remained more or less intact, although human activities (such as salt mining) have changed the landscape from what our ancestors enjoyed. In 1970, the region received Ramsar status, and then, in 1977, a biosphere reserve was established here.

The Camargue is a complex maze of beaches, sand dunes, reed beds, estuaries, coastal forests and grasslands, and salt pans. This diversity of natural conditions, combined with an advantageous geographical position, makes the Camargue an important point on the route of many species of migratory birds - more than 300 species have been recorded here. Millions of ducks, geese and other wading birds fly to these places every year from Northern Europe and even from distant Siberia. Among them there are short-term guests preparing for a further journey, while others nest here and breed. Among the latter, notable are the sea plover, slender-billed gull, red-billed duck, stilt, avocet and avocet, as well as the meadow tirkushka, which does not nest anywhere else. The remaining freshwater reed beds provide ideal nesting sites for bittern, little bittern, red heron, yellow heron, little egret, Egyptian heron, a variety of warblers and the majestic marsh harrier, which can be seen soaring just above the reeds.

It is the proximity of suitable nesting sites to food sources that makes the Camargue so attractive to birds. Ducks spend most of the day in relative safety on the waters of numerous small estuaries. In the early morning and late evening, they can fly in search of food to some nearby swamp. Many of these marshes are privately owned, where their owners allow hunting, and as a result, the number of birds wintering in the Camargue has almost halved over the past ten years.

The unusually high level of soil salinity created by the salt deposits makes this area particularly favorable for the brine shrimp, an important prey item for some bird species, especially the pink flamingo. These strikingly beautiful birds represent successful business in the Camargue. Since 1944, the number of pink flamingo pairs nesting here has steadily increased, and at the same time the importance of this region as a wintering site has increased: in 1991, 24,000 individuals were registered here. The attractiveness of the Camargue for these birds lies in the presence of safe nesting places in salt pools, in close proximity to places abundant with food.

Apart from the colossal number of birds for which the Camargue is justly famous, it is also notable for its native breed of cattle and, to a greater extent, for its herds of semi-wild white horses, supposed to be the direct descendants of primitive horses.

The Camargue is a regional natural park in France, located in the delta of France's largest river, the Rhone, near the Mediterranean Sea. It occupies 857 km 2. Created in 1928, on the initiative of the Head of the French National Society for the Conservation of Nature, Professor Louis Mangin. The landscape of the park is a swampy area (a third of the territory is a swamp lake), most of which belongs to salt marshes and sea lagoons.

According to legend, a chapel was erected on the territory of the reserve by two women, followers of Christ, with the same name - Mary, and also Sarah - their maid. The parishioners prayed to the gypsy and believed that she would convey their prayers to her mistresses. It is from here that a temple called “Gypsy Mary” now exists in the Camargue reserve, which was built later, in the fifteenth century. Now the church is one of the attractions of the reserve.

The main “live” attraction of the Camargue reserve are flamingos. This is the only place in Europe where these birds nest. Flamingos feed on crustaceans and make nests from mud and saltweed stems. There are fifteen thousand flamingos in the reserve, a third of which remain for the winter.

Warm winters and moderately rainy summers make this an excellent climate for many European ducks (teal, quacker). Birds such as plovers, gulls, avocets, red-nose ducks, common ducks, stilts, and meadow tigers also wait out the European frosts here. The overgrown reeds are teeming with bird species such as bittern, bittern, as well as many varieties of herons (red, yellow, little white, Egyptian), marsh harrier and warblers. The world of birds is the main treasure of the reserve, of which there are more than 300 species (waterfowl, semi-aquatic birds, raptors, passerines). Throughout the Camargue reserve, overgrown with reeds and spacious fields, wild white horses and black bulls roam, which do not need shepherds at all, since there are no predators here. They feel calm on this land and only sometimes fight for the attention of females. There is still no final version of how these animals appeared here, but scientists assume that they are descendants of Cretan bulls, which were brought by Greek colonists.

The fauna of the Camargue also includes many mammals - these are hares, wild boars, shrews, moles, rabbits, squirrels, beavers, hedgehogs and many other species of animals, of which there are more than 30. Thickets of bushes, perennial herbaceous plants, as well as forests of ash, poplar, willows, pine, juniper, gladioli, violets and many salt-loving plants, the flora of the Camargue is represented.

The local population of the Camargue loves to organize mass celebrations, where tourists from all over the world can watch black Camargue bullfights, as well as theatrical performances on white horses. In everyday life, the island's residents are engaged in growing rice, olives and other organic products, producing salt, farming, winemaking, and organizing tourism. The Camargue is a place for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. Here you can enjoy horseback riding, cycling, hiking trails, as well as fishing, and if you wish, you can have a barbecue right on the beach. You can also take a full-day excursion around the territory by jeep, with lunch included, or by boat through the water part of the park.

It is worth visiting the bird museum, which is located 4.5 kilometers north of Sainte-Marie. In this small town there is a church, from the tower of which a panorama of the entire sea coast opens.

Near the park there is a city called Aigues-Mortes, the preserved city wall is its landmark, from the tower of which there is a wonderful view of the Camargue National Park itself. As a treat from the beautiful Camargue, you can buy your family natural wine Le Muscat de Lunel and Bel Air la Côte, raw smoked sausages and locally produced canned bovine meat, salt with various toppings.

You can get to the Reserve by sea or by renting a car, as well as by bus from the cities of Nîmes or Arles. The trip will take from half an hour to an hour, depending on which part of the Camargue (Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer, Aigues-Mortes, etc.) you want to visit.

Camargue - the most expressive region . The Camargue is gypsies and holidays like no other; This is a bullfight; this is a unique reserve; this is the mistral and that says it all. The mistral wind in translation means “master”, because it blows when it wants and as much as it wants, it is always unexpected and unpredictable. But it has an exact duration - 3 days, 6 or 9. Its speed starts from 50 kilometers per hour and reaches 150. If you don’t get into it and feel its mystical power, then you can easily go crazy, which is what many do.

In the town of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer, on May 24th a holiday is celebrated: Saint Sarah's Day- patroness of the gypsies. For this holiday, gypsies from all over Europe flock here - the entire city and the church of Sainte-Marie become a gypsy Mecca. Every Catholic gypsy dreams of being in this church on this day at least once in his life. It’s like for Muslims to make a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, for Christians to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and for Buddhists to visit the Temple of Buddha, where his tooth is kept. The Church of Sainte-Marie was built in the 9th century. Here are the relics of two Marys. The name of the town of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer translates as Saint Mary of the Sea. And that's why. In the year 40 AD. The Romans decided to get rid of the relatives and friends of Jesus Christ. They put them in a ship without a sail or oars and sent them out into the blue sea. On that ship were Maria Magdalena, Maria Salome, Maria Jacobleva, Martha (who defeated the Tarasco monster in Tarascon), Lazarus, Maximilian. So with all of them the ship landed on the shore of this town. A certain Sarah was also with them. Who is she and why exactly did she become a saint and patroness of the gypsies? She comes from, and at one time she was the wife of Pontius Pilate. But after she converted to Christianity, her high-ranking husband rejected her. She became the leader of a nomadic tribe. One day she had a dream in which an angel appeared to her and told her that she should become a servant of two Marys. She found them and went into their service - and that’s how she ended up on the ship with them. Why did she become the patroness of the gypsies, and not Saint Mary Magdalene or Mary Salome? And all because the reputation of the gypsies suggests that they are not very honest. And, supposedly, they are ashamed to speak directly through holy, well-behaved virgins, and Sarah, since she was a servant, became their intermediary.

The most important moment of the festive ceremony is the removal of the rakke - sarcophagus, in which the relics of Saint Mary rest. He descends from under the dome and then pandemonium begins. During the Great French Revolution, robbers shook out holy relics onto the floor of the temple, and local residents collected them and hid them in their homes, and when the revolution ended, they returned the remains to the temple. Since then, the relics have been kept under the ceiling and only once every few years they are sent to Lourdes (a city in western France, where the sick are healed with water from the spring of St. Bernadette). After the service, the statue of Saint Sarah is taken out of the temple, carried around the city, after which it is dipped into the sea and everyone dives (despite the fact that the water is still cold at the end of May), after which the statue is returned to the crypt until the next holiday.

During the harsh year of the Spanish Inquisition in the 16th century, mass expulsions of Jews and Gypsies began from Spain. Well, the Jews are a different story, but as for the gypsies, they settled in the Camargue. This is a harsh region for Provence: in the summer there is sweltering heat, the rest of the time there is a maddening mistral. In order to live here, you must want to live here. The people here are tough: they ride semi-wild horses and raise bulls - this is a cowboy area. Most of the population lives on farms and carefully honors ancient traditions. The men are somewhat reminiscent of American cowboys, but the French horsemen, called Gardiennes, are 300 years older than them. All family members usually work on the farm.

The wives of French Gardeners are called Arlesians. A true Arlesian woman knows and follows local traditions and rides a horse. The election of the Queen of Arles takes place every three years. To do this, she does not need to walk the catwalk in a swimsuit; on the contrary, the Queen of Arles must be able to embroider, speak Provençal, know the traditions of Provence and ride a horse. The Queen is present at all holidays. And for the family it is a great honor when their daughter becomes Queen of Arles and photographs from the competition are the main home heirloom. By the way, there should be exactly 83 pins in the upper part of an Arlesian dress. Spend at least two hours getting dressed and doing your hair! The most expensive part of the costume is the hairband. In winter, Arlesian women do not wear fur coats, but wrap themselves in woolen shawls more than 4 meters long.

The men's suit consists of a bright gypsy-style shirt, trousers made of thick fabric with stripes, boots and a jacket made of black velvet with red lining. Moreover, this national costume of the Gardeners was invented by the Russian artist Pryanichnikov. He combined English and Russian lines in it. The British, entering the smoking room, threw a velvet cape over themselves, which absorbed tobacco smoke and thus the rest of their clothes did not become smoked. The Gardiens spend a lot of time with horses and bulls, and so that upon returning home the owner does not smell of animals, he takes off his velvet jacket in the hallway, which has absorbed all the aromas of the stable. And the Russian line is because the artist Pryanichnikov was the personal battle painter of Tsar Alexander III and always depicted him in a uniform with an indispensable red lining on his jacket.

The symbol of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer and the entire Camargue is the cross, on the top of which there is a trident, with which the Gardiens drive bulls. The cross itself symbolizes faith - the heart in the middle means faith. And the anchor at the bottom of the cross is the sea.

Bullfighting is very popular in the Camargue. In France, bullfighting is not prohibited - it is real here, with all the consequences. Here, only Spanish bulls perform in bullfights. As a rule, the bull enters the arena only once. Because here it’s either hit or miss. Those bulls that emerge victorious in a fight for the second time are no longer allowed into the arena. Since they gain experience and are not going to run after a rag. Bulls, contrary to popular belief, do not rush to the color red, but react to movement.

Camargue bulls, unlike Spanish ones, are noticeably smaller and their horns are directed not forward, but upward. Unlike Spanish bulls, they do not participate in bullfights - the locals feel sorry for them and they simply participate in games that are bloodless for them. Metal caps, caps and string are attached to the bull's horns. A group of four or five players enters the arena and their task is to pull this cockade with ropes off the bull’s horns. In practice, this is not an easy task. Unlucky and indecisive bulls are sent to the sausage, and those who show a fighting character after several fights become wiser and become more aggressive, which saves their lives. Some compete in duels with humans for 10 years, after which the retired bulls are sent back to the farms from which they came, where they share their memories with the rest of the retired bulls.

Camargue, France - video

Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer on the map

There is an incredible nature reserve in the south of France called Camargue (Camargue). The marshy area in the delta of the Rhone River, a kind of analogue of the Astrakhan Nature Reserve, is a real oasis for a huge number of birds: ducks, herons, bitterns, owls, storks, lapwings and, of course, pink flamingos, which will be discussed in this post. These incredibly beautiful birds, “children of the sunset”, find an abundance of food and safe nesting places in the reserve. There are not many corners in Europe where you can admire such an amazing sight - a reddish-orange steppe and a bright blue lagoon strewn with white and pink dots. If you are lucky, you will see flamingos up close, and maybe even in flight. But even from afar they will not leave you indifferent.

The Camargue is 930 square kilometers of salt marshes, reed marshes, sea lagoons and alluvial sand islands. The easiest way to get here is by car - two hours from Marseille or an hour from Montpellier. The reserve does not immediately make an impression, but the more you drive through it, the more interesting and varied landscapes open up to your gaze.

Sea salt is present on land, in water and in the air. Only certain types of plants can exist in conditions where salt water, sand and dry soil are combined, scorched by the bright sun of Provence.

The thickets of European saltwort give a special piquancy to the Camargue steppes. This unpretentious annual plant, which survives well in salt marshes, blooms red, transforming terrestrial landscapes into Martian ones.

In France, saltwort is sometimes used as a condiment or even a side dish. Soda is extracted from the ash of the plant, and the succulent stems can serve as feed for livestock or raw material for biofuel.

For the first time in France I saw soil cracked by the heat. An additional contrast to this phenomenon is given by the river flowing nearby.

And again the tenacious saltwort, but not yet reddened.

And in some places the Camargue is a real desert. It's amazing how such different landscapes can exist side by side.

In addition to flamingos, the reserve is famous for its local breeds of horses (white) and bulls (black). I managed to photograph Camargue horses at one of the sites, but I never saw any bulls. But at least he accomplished the main goal of the trip. You can already guess which one and you will see it soon.

The search for flamingos turned out to be quite exciting. To begin with, I stopped at the information center, where a kind French woman showed on a map the most interesting places in the reserve, including the lake where pink birds hunt. On the way there, at every turn, I looked closely at all the birds, but as a rule they turned out to be small herons.

At first nothing interesting was noticeable on the said lake. But as soon as I walked literally a hundred meters, bright dots appeared in the distance. My heart suddenly started beating faster. Is it really not in vain that I came here?

I take out the camera, turn up the zoom - and here it is, happiness!

Flamingos hunt for food - mollusks and crustaceans, so they constantly keep their beak at water level. It all looks quite strange and even scary - these waterskins on three legs, wandering around the lake with a strange gait.

It turned out to be difficult to catch the birds in any interesting pose - I only got one shot of rather average interest. The flamingos only raised their heads from the water for a few seconds, and then dived with their beaks again.

And there were quite a lot of points in the distance.

Too far - 200 mm zoom was clearly not enough. But you can’t get closer - there’s a kind of exclusion zone here. People do not interfere with the birds, and they, in turn, do not fly away and allow themselves to be photographed - from a decent distance.

Relieved that my desire to see flamingos was fulfilled, I moved on. On the shore of a salt lake (which was once part of the sea) I saw a lonely bird that did not want to turn to face the photographer. In the background is the Gacholl lighthouse. That's where we'll go.

The road to the lighthouse can be summed up by one road sign. This is really 4 km of gravel surface with speed bumps every hundred to two hundred meters. Although it is worth noting that the main roads in the park are of excellent quality. However, like everywhere else in France.

The Gachol lighthouse was built in 1882. A dam runs nearby, protecting the mouth of the Rhone from the influence of the Mediterranean Sea.

The observation deck at the top was closed, and two cyclists were relaxing in the courtyard. The distances here are quite large - from the parking lot to the lighthouse it takes about 15 minutes on foot, and the smallest circular route past the lighthouse is 10 km - the most convenient way is to walk by bicycle.

The landscapes here are truly African. To be honest, I still couldn’t believe that I was still in Europe. Red steppe (or savanna?), a lake with flamingos and mountains on the horizon.

Again 4 km of speed bumps and we return to the lake with flamingos. And then - lo and behold! The birds have come closer, and are also illuminated by the evening sun. We immediately stop and take out the camera.

Flamingos very methodically comb the lake, stretching out in a chain and almost dividing the water surface into conditional squares. Apparently, they explored the part farthest from the road during the day, and in the evening they approached the shore.

In this shot, the flamingos again look like wineskins on legs. With their strange gait, they reminded me of creatures from some scary computer game or horror film.

Seeing people with a camera, the birds began to slowly move away from the shore. It's nothing you can do. I got into the car and drove slowly along the lake. And then I realized that if you stay in the car, the flamingos will not take you for a potential enemy and will let you get closer. I stopped on a deserted road, opened the window, took out the Nikon - and for a while I forgot about everything except the viewfinder window.

I never dreamed of getting so close to these birds.

The soft evening sun illuminated the pink plumage of the adults and the gray clothes of the young.

Flamingos, it turns out, are monogamous, although they like to live in colonies of several hundred and even thousands of individuals. In captivity they can live more than 30 years.

In backlight the birds appear translucent.

Mother and son. Or maybe father and daughter. Can't make it out.

I’m not afraid to say that these incredible creatures became one of the main impressions of this year. It was worth crossing France for such a view. I regret that I don’t have a lens with a longer focal length. However, I already complained about this when I went to the air show in Le Bourget. Airplanes are also birds. Still, between spotting and animal photography, I would choose the latter.

Have you, dear friends, ever photographed unusual birds and animals? Maybe you have been on a safari in Africa or some other reserves? Share information and footage.

Camargue (French Camargue) is a marshy area in the south of France, in the Rhone delta, where several nature reserves are located. The total area is 145,300 hectares or 930 km². Landscape - salt marshes, reed swamps, sea lagoons, alluvial sand islands.

It is divided by two branches of the Rhone into three main parts:

Petite Camargue west of the Petite Rhone;

Plan du Bourg (Plan du Bourg) east of the Grand Rhône;

and the central part, between the two branches of the Rhone, is occupied by the Grande Camargue, the greater part of which is occupied by a lagoon.

Once upon a time, during the times of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean coast was decorated with a motley mosaic of marshes, which remained, for the most part, untouched until the 19th century. Then the drainage of large areas began in order to obtain land suitable for agriculture and eradicate malaria, eliminating conditions favorable for the breeding of mosquitoes; as a result, little remains of the swamps.
The Camargue, however, is one of the regions that has remained more or less intact, although human activities (such as salt mining) have changed the landscape from what our ancestors enjoyed.

Founded in 1928, on the initiative of Professor Louis Mangin, then president of the French National Society for the Conservation of Nature. The history of the Camargue Natural Park can begin back in 1828, when the French Society for the Protection of Nature achieved a ban on hunting, fishing and plant collection in the Camargue

In 1950, the Swede Luke Hoffman began to invest his considerable fortune at that time in the Camargue; he contributed to the opening of a biological station here, which helped to focus scientific activity on the study of migrations of bird flocks.

In 1970, the region received Ramsar status, and then, in 1977, a biosphere reserve was established here.

This is a typical salt marsh area, there are many reed swamps, sea lagoons, hundreds of channels, thousands of sandy islands. And all this natural splendor together is considered the last area in Europe where relict semi-steppe natural complexes are still preserved.
By the way, the Camargue nature reserve belongs to the Bouches-du-Rhone department.

As research by scientists from the biological station has shown, the Camargue is the largest “inn” for birds on the European continent.

Vegetation

The flora of the reserve includes floodplain forests of white poplar, ash, elm and willow, juniper thickets and pine groves on sand dunes, tamarisk thickets along the shores of lakes, areas of dry meadows with wild gladioli, violets, elecampane and irises, as well as those growing on salt marshes along the banks salt lakes solyanka and other salt-loving plants.

The forests reach a height of 7 meters with a trunk diameter of up to 50 cm. Also among the vegetation, tamarisk, asphodels, daffodils and other representatives of the flora of the endless swamps are especially beautiful. In general, on the territory of the reserve there is much more water than land, so for every square meter of land there is a double load. So, many land areas here are planted with potatoes and melons; more flooded areas are, as a rule, occupied by rice fields.

When the protective dam of the Grand Rhône was built at the end of the 18th century, vineyards and alfalfa fields appeared in the northern Camargue

They are mostly concentrated along the road from Aigues-Mortes to the coastal town of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer.

Animal world

In total, about 300 species of birds have been recorded within the Camargue reserve.

The proximity of suitable nesting sites to food sources makes the Camargue attractive to birds. Ducks spend most of the day in relative safety on the waters of numerous small estuaries.
In the early morning and late evening, they can fly to nearby swamps in search of food. Many of these wetlands are private property where the owners allow hunting. As a result, the number of birds wintering in the Camargue has been halved.

The Camargue is a complex maze of beaches, sand dunes, reed beds, estuaries, coastal forests and pastures, and salt pans. This diversity of natural conditions, combined with an advantageous geographical position, makes the Camargue an important point on the route of many species of migratory birds.

Millions of ducks, geese and other wading birds fly to these places every year from Northern Europe and even from distant Siberia.

These are large wintering grounds for European ducks, flamingos, sea plover, slender-billed gulls, red-billed ducks, stilts, avocets and avocets, as well as the meadow plover (it does not nest anywhere else in France).
The preserved freshwater reed beds provide ideal nesting conditions for bitterns, red herons, yellow herons, little egrets, Egyptian herons, a variety of warblers, and marsh harriers.

The unusually high level of soil salinity created by the salt deposits makes this area particularly favorable for the brine shrimp, an important prey item for some bird species, especially the pink flamingo.
These strikingly beautiful birds represent successful business in the Camargue. Since 1944, the number of pink flamingo pairs nesting here has steadily increased, and at the same time the importance of this region as a wintering site has increased: in 1991, 24,000 individuals were registered here.
The attractiveness of the Camargue for these birds lies in the presence of safe nesting places in salt pools, in close proximity to places abundant with food.

Flamingos cannot be confused with any other bird species. Unlike non-European species (bred in zoos), this species is quite large, it is also distinguished by its beak, which is one-third black in front.
In young birds in the first year of life, the head, neck, shoulders and flight feathers are grayish-brown, and the underparts are white. The pinkish coating on the plumage of adult birds becomes brighter over the years. The flamingo's voice resembles the deep cackling of a goose.
These are exclusively flocking birds; they fly in a sparse, not very clear oblique line and take off only after an energetic run.

Distribution: Flamingos eat specific types of food, so they can only live in certain places. They need shallow, more or less salty bodies of water, most often lagoons, where the necessary species of small animals live in large numbers.
The largest flamingo colony in Europe is located in the Rhone delta (Camargue), another is in one of the lagoons of Andalusia, there are colonies in Shop El Djerid in Tunisia, on the Moroccan and further Mauritanian coasts of the Atlantic. Many colonies were destroyed by humans, for example, in Sicily and the Volga Delta, the Nile Delta and Sri Lanka.
The number of these birds worldwide reaches less than half a million individuals. Most of them live in lagoons south of the mouth of the Indus.

Flamingos usually nest in remote and inaccessible salt marshes, so some of the currently known colonies were discovered quite recently. Birds breed only in years when the concentration of salts in the water is sufficient for the mass reproduction of animals that serve as food for them.

Flamingos from the Camargue reserve return from wintering in March, skirting the Mediterranean Sea, and meet in the nesting area with those few birds that have not flown anywhere. In April, if the year is favorable, they begin breeding. The parents incubate the eggs for about 30 days.

The Egyptian heron is slightly smaller than the little egret, measuring 51 cm in length, but is larger than the yellow heron. The extensive range of the Egyptian heron spans 6 continents. Over the past half century, it has successfully populated North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, this beautiful heron was specially resettled in some places.

The Egyptian heron often feeds with grazing cows or other livestock, preying on small animals scared by them - grasshoppers, beetles, lizards. Birds also readily eat blood-sucking ticks and insects such as botflies and horse flies. In summer, the bird is decorated with buffy-yellow feathers on the head, nape, back and chest, and the female has fewer of these decorations than the male.

In winter, these feathers, except for the buffy-yellow spot on the head, are almost white. The eastern subspecies of the Egyptian heron is distinguished by its orange-red head plumage and golden decorations on its back. The beak is short and yellow. Outside the colonies, the Egyptian heron is silent. Trusting bird.

Distribution: meadows, rice fields, lake shores, birds often live close to humans near villages. The Egyptian heron lives in cultivated landscapes, so its range is expanding.
About 40 years ago, these birds crossed the Atlantic and did not meet any competitors in America, so in our time this species is experiencing a real population explosion here.
In 1948, the Egyptian heron flew to Australia and also settled in New Zealand. It is not found only in large forest areas of the tropics, but herons willingly settle in those areas where forests are cut down. In the Camargue nature reserve in France, its numbers are growing rapidly.
Ornithologists are awaiting the first attempts of these birds to nest north of the Alps. But at the same time, Egyptian herons must learn new flight routes, since the Central European winter is too cold for them.
That this species can migrate is demonstrated by Eastern European populations, which remain in the breeding area only from March to August. African Egyptian herons breed their chicks during the rainy season, and some populations leave breeding areas during dry periods.

Birds begin to hatch chicks in Cairo in March, in Europe in May, but some individuals arrive only in June. The clutch is incubated by both parents for 21–24 days.

The abundance of birds is explained by the favorable climate: warm winters, not very hot summers and moderate rainfall.

Among the amphibians and reptiles that live in the Camargue are the green frog, tree frog, marsh turtle, lizard, snake, membranous newt, Spanish spadefoot, and fusiform skink.

The mammal fauna of the Camargue is much poorer. About 30 species of animals live here, common in other parts of Europe (hedgehog, brown hare, rabbit, squirrel, voles, mice, rats, fox, badger, weasel). The otter is very rare.

In the fauna, in addition to 30 species of wild mammals (wild boar, hedgehog, shrews, mole, brown hare, rabbit, squirrel, beaver, dormouse, badger, weasel, ferret, otter, bats and mouse-like rodents), local white " mustangs" - wild descendants of cavalry horses that came here in the Middle Ages, and semi-wild black Camargue bulls, having an appearance similar to the now extinct European wild aurochs bull.

Black bulls here are often called on a geographical basis - Camargue, this type of bull has many similarities with the Spanish bull, but their main difference is the shape of the horns - the Camargue has horns “to the sky”, the Spaniard has flat ones. It is noteworthy that both bulls can be observed within the reserve.

The natives of the local wastelands are small, stocky, pale gray Camargue horses, leading a semi-wild existence. Experts believe that the prehistoric roots of this breed are evidenced by rock paintings of horses in the famous Lascaux cave, made about 15 thousand years BC. e., and the fossilized bones, it seems, of their ancestors, found during excavations in Burgundy.
The Camargue has a rather primitive exterior: a rather heavy head, a short neck, shoulders and back, a muscular rear, strong legs with wide wrists and very strong hooves. Their height at the withers is 135-145 cm.
They are born black or bay, and over time they become so pale gray that in certain light they appear white. The Camargue became part of the life of the local population. Gardian herders use these sturdy horses to manage the herds of fighting black bulls raised for the traditional Camargue bullfights, which begin each year in the first days of May.
Enterprising farm owners have found another job for the calm but active Camargue, putting broken horses under saddle for tourists who come to admire the wildlife.
The surrounding swampy environment with its harsh winds and salt water that freezes in winter has created a truly tough rock. “Horses of the sea” is what the locals call the Camargue.