The Camargue National Park is located in the south of France in the western part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It was created on September 25, 1970. The purpose of its creation was to protect the salt marshes of the area - the delta of the Rhone River and the adjacent maritime zone.
total area The park is 857 square kilometers, of which 343 are offshore. The maximum height above sea level reaches 4 meters. Nature is represented mainly by salt marshes, reed marshes, steppes, sandy beaches with lagoons and dunes overgrown with hardwood forest. Up to 300 nest here. various kinds birds, among which the most famous are terns, herons and bitterns. Moreover, the Camargue is the only place in Europe where the famous pink flamingos live in natural conditions - amazingly beautiful creatures.
The park also includes a large lake Vaccares, located in the Rhone delta. It is a fundamental element of the entire water system of the region. Flamingos and others also live here. rare birds. Its area is 65 square kilometers, and the depth does not reach even two meters.
The park is inhabited, moreover, the number of its local residents reaches 7 and a half thousand people. Its population is predominantly employed in the agricultural sector - they mainly grow rice and breed bulls and horses. Fishing is also common here, and this area is also famous for its salt production. In addition, on this moment more and more tourists visit this picturesque and interesting place, and therefore many locals are involved in this area of activity. It is known that more than 80,000 tourists visit the Camargue every year. And recently, in the building of a former sheepfold near the bridge, the Camargue Museum was founded, which presents objects of everyday life of its typical inhabitant of the 19th century, as well as the history of the formation of the Rhone Delta.
Since 1997, the park has been under the protection of UNESCO.
The Camargue is a regional natural park in France, located in the delta of France's largest river, the Rhone, not far from 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 it belongs to salt marshes, 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 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” still 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 "living" attraction of the Camargue reserve are flamingos. This is the only place in Europe where these birds nest. Flamingos feed on crustaceans, make nests from mud and saltwort stalks. There are fifteen thousand flamingos in the reserve, a third of which stay for the winter.
Warm winters and moderately rainy summers, this is an excellent climate for many European ducks (teals, whistlers, mallards). Birds such as plover, gull, avocet, red-nosed pochard, crowberry, stilt, and meadow tirkushka also wait out the frosts of Europe here. The overgrown reeds are teeming with bird species such as common bittern, little 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, species of which, there are more than 300 birds (waterfowl, semi-aquatic, predatory, passerine). Throughout the territory of the Camargue reserve, overgrown with reeds and spacious fields, feral white horses and black bulls roam, which do not need shepherds at all, since there are no predators here. They feel calm on this earth and only sometimes arrange fights for the attention of females. There is still no final version of how these animals appeared here, but scientists admit that they are descendants of the Cretan bulls, which were brought by the Greek colonists.
The fauna of the Camargue also counts 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 shrubs, perennial herbaceous plants, as well as forests of ash, poplar, willow, pine, juniper, gladioli, violets and many salt-loving plants, the flora of the Camargue is presented.
The local population of the Camargue loves to organize mass celebrations, where tourists from all over the world can watch the fights of black Camargue bulls, as well as theatrical performances on white horses. In everyday life, the inhabitants of the island are engaged in the cultivation of rice, olives and other organic products, produce salt, are engaged in farming, winemaking, and organizing tourism. The Camargue is a place for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. Here you can be offered horseback riding, cycling, walking 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 tour of the territory by jeep, with lunch included in it, 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 that 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 wall of the city is its attraction, from the tower of which there is a wonderful view of the Camargue National Park itself. As a treat, from the beautiful Camargue, your family can buy natural wine Le Muscat de Lunel and Bel Air la Côte, raw smoked sausages and canned locally produced bovine meat, salt with various fillers.
You can get to the Reserve by sea or by renting a car, as well as by bus from the city of Nimes or Arles. The trip will take from half an hour to an hour, depending on which part of the Camargue (Saint-Maries-de-la-Mer, Aigues-Mortes, etc.) you want to visit.
And the Greater Rhone embraces on both sides the island of Greater Camargue, almost entirely occupied by sea lagoons, from which the Camargue salt so beloved by gourmets is evaporated here; the western bank of the Lesser Rhone is called the Petit Camargue, the eastern bank of the Greater Rhone is called the Plan de Bourg. These wastelands are occupied by juniper forests, reed beds, swamps and salt marshes.
In its original form, almost the entire Mediterranean coast of France was a mosaic of swamps, sea lagoons and sandy islands, covered with thickets of reeds, heather and juniper. Wetlands teemed with game, semi-steppe areas (still preserved as a relic only in the Camargue) and herds of wild white-gray horses (a short Camargue breed is a direct descendant of the native horse that appeared here 50 thousand years ago) rushed in the sea surf. This is how they saw the coast of Provence approx. 800 BC e. the Ligurian tribes, then the Celts and the ancient Greeks (founded the city c. 600 BC), then the Romans (Romanization of Provence from the 2nd century BC), after the fall of Rome - the Visigoths and the Franks, in the 8th century. - Arabs. In the second half of the ninth century there was a kingdom, from the beginning of the XI century. Provence was part of the Holy Roman Empire and in 1246 became part of the Kingdom of France.
The small tourist town of Aigues-Mortes (“dead water” - because of its salinity), from whose well-preserved fortress walls with 20 towers and 10 gates (XIII century) the Camargue salt mountains are visible - the very first Mediterranean port of the French kings. This coastal swampy wasteland, devastated by the Albigensian wars (1209-1229) and captured by the Count of Toulouse in 1240, he helped to recapture and bought from his father-in-law, Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence, Saint Louis IX (he was married to Margaret of Provence since 1234). Louis immediately began to build a lighthouse and a port here; from here he went on the extremely unsuccessful 7th and 8th Crusades for himself (in the campaign of 1249-1250 he was captured, and his wife barely managed to redeem him, in the campaign of 1270 he died). City of Aigues-Mortes until the XVI century. flourished on maritime trade and was considered one of the most significant on the French coast (in 1538, it was here that Francis I and Charles V of Habsburg held negotiations, after which they concluded a peace treaty in Nice). But then, due to the sandy sediments of the Rhone, the lagoon became shallow, the port was cut off from the sea and lost leadership to Marseille. And he himself seemed to be “conserved” in the form in which he was in the Middle Ages; however, today it hardly has a half of the former number of inhabitants, but there is no end to tourists.
In the 19th century, when the more fertile parts of the coast were drained and cultivated, which led to a healthier climate (mosquitoes and, accordingly, malaria disappeared), the barren salt marshes and swamps of the Camargue were left alone. Not because the French were already striving to preserve the unique ecoregion intact, but because of the barrenness of these wastelands and the ferocity of the mistral - a cold north-west wind that can uproot trees, because of which the French called the Arles area a dead place. Blinding sun, corroding salt, squally cold wind - that's who turned out to be the main defender of virgin nature in these parts.
With the exception of Marseille, located on the eastern edge of the Camargue, and Arles, located on the "top" of the mouth of the Rhone, which splits into sleeves, this is a giant salt marsh - a wasteland devoid of large settlements. There are only small towns such as the museum-medieval Aigues-Mortes, which specializes in the production of sea salt of Saint-Gilles and the "gypsy Mecca" - Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer (only 2.5 thousand people live there, but on May 24-25, on the day of the holy gypsy Sarah, many thousands of Catholic gypsies flock there). The swampy Camargue ecoregion is almost entirely a biosphere reserve, although there are also private estates in it, where the owners are ready to organize hunting and fishing. But most of it is protected by the state and the international Convention on wetlands of international importance mainly as habitats for waterfowl (Ramsar Convention 1971).
All those who love to relax on the Cote d'Azur and in Provence will certainly look into this corner of the wild.
The sand deposits of the Rhone in the lower reaches, blocking the exit to the sea at its ancient mouth, people have learned to bypass. In 1925, the Marseille-Rhone canal was dug, departing from Arles to the east and further through the Étang-de-Ber lagoon and a 7.2 km long tunnel to Marseille. This made it possible to create a natural reserve in the wetlands of the Camargue in the river delta (since 1928), which later received the status of a biosphere reserve.
In 1948, several more bypass channels were dug on the Rhone. But the region did not remain isolated: very close, on the eastern border of the Camargue, is the international airport of Marseille; between Marseille and Arles, Avignon and Montpellier, lying to the west of it, is a dense network of automobile and railways and channels.
After the noise, bustle and smog of megacities - the inevitable costs of modern civilization - a quiet and almost deserted reserved place with an intricate labyrinth of beaches, sand dunes, reed beds, estuaries, coastal forests and pastures, salt pans is perceived as a wonderful fairy tale. It seems that a white unicorn is about to come out of the juniper forest ... And an amazing creature really runs out from there - the wild white horse Kamar-gu. Low at the withers, 130-150 cm, and not particularly graceful compared to thoroughbred horses, she is distinguished by an obedient, friendly disposition and endurance. And no matter what experts of elite breeds say, a herd of white swamp horses, raising a cloud of water spray in the estuary on the run, is a delightful sight. In the neighborhood of herds of light gray horses, powerful black bulls graze - a local Camargue breed that is used for the "courtly" French equivalent of bullfighting (the animal is not killed, you just need to rip the cockade rosette from the bull's horn).
In Camargue, with its high level of salinity of the soil created by salt deposits (there are whole mountains of salt!), One of the simplest methods of salt extraction is used - by evaporating sea water in the sun. In the salt pans of the Camargue, sea water is pumped through a series of shallow ponds or reservoirs, becoming more and more saturated with a solution (brine), until the last pool evaporates the remaining water, leaving crystalline salt. This artificial system has made the Camargue a comfortable habitat for the salt crustacean brine shrimp - the main food of the pink flamingo and many other waterfowl. That is, the reserve gives birds safe nesting places, and salty lagoons with crustaceans - a constant abundance of food. The number of pink flamingos, constantly increasing since 1944, reached 24,000 by 1991.
But this swampy area, with its advantageous geographical position, safety and abundance of food, was chosen not only by horses, bulls and flamingos: more than 300 species of migratory birds have been recorded here. Flying through the wetlands of the Camargue, millions of ducks (teals, mallards, wigeons, gray ducks, shovelers, etc.), geese and other marsh birds stop here to rest. Some birds fly further immediately after a short respite, while others nest here and breed offspring (sea plover, slender-billed gull, red-nosed pochard, stilt, avdotka, avocet, meadow tirkushka ...). Bitterns, little bitterns, as well as red, yellow, little white and Egyptian herons feel at home and build their nests in the preserved thickets of freshwater reeds. Here you can also see a variety of warblers and marsh harriers, which sometimes soar above the reeds. Of the plants, the Phoenician juniper, up to 7 m high with a trunk girth of up to half a meter, deserves special mention; soft purple lavender and blue thistle grow.
general information
Extensive wetland, biosphere reserve of international importance.Location: at the mouth of the Rhone on the Mediterranean coast, in the Gulf of Lion.
Administrative affiliation: Greater Camargue and Plan-de-Bourg - Bouches-du-Rhone department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur district; The Petit Camargue is a Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussy-Lyon region, Southern France.
Year of foundation: regional park-reserve 1927, biosphere reserve since 1971
Main geographic features
: Lesser and Greater Rhone, Greater Camargue island, eastern bank of the Greater Rhone Plan de Bourg, western coast of the Lesser Rhone - Lesser
Major cities: Aigues-Mortes, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Saint-Gilles, Arles.
Nearest airport: Marseille International Airport.
Numbers
Area: 930 km2.Species biodiversity: birds - 300 species, including pink flamingos; also semi-wild white horses, black bulls.
Climate and weather
Mediterranean.In the spring, the mistral blows (the strongest cold northwest winds), in the summer it is dry and sunny.
January average temperature: +7°С.
July average temperature: +25°С.
Average annual rainfall: 500 mm.
Economy
Industry: extraction of sea salt by evaporation (salt fishing is put on an industrial basis in Salen-de-Giraud), food, winemaking.Agriculture: animal husbandry (local black breed of bulls, white semi-wild horses), crop production (vine growing, cultivation of asparagus, etc.).
Service sector: tourism (ecotourism, hunting, fishing), transport.
Attractions
■ Natural: the biosphere reserve protects the landscapes of the ancient delta of the Rhone with numerous water bodies of varying degrees of salinity. A unique forest of juniper (Juniperus phoenicea) up to 7 m high, up to 50 cm in diameter. Salt mountains, salt pans.
■ Herds of semi-wild white horses of the Camargue breed. Herds of black bulls. Pink flamingos, white herons, etc. nest. In total, up to 300 species of birds are found.
■ The nature reserve is studied by the Tours du Val biostation.
■ Cultural and historical: Big Camargue - ornithological museum, artificial system of evaporation of sea salt (chains of ponds).
■ City of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer: 12th century church with the underground crypt of the mythical saint gypsy Sarah; picturesque embankment, many restaurants (Mediterranean seafood cuisine is one of the best in France).
■ City of Aigues-Mortes: well-preserved city wall of the 11th-11th centuries, the old town and the watchtowers of Constance (1242) and Carbonniere (no later than 1346), the Church of Notre-Dame de Sablon (XIII century).
■ City of Arles(the capital of the Roman province of Romana): ancient buildings - part of the city wall, theater and amphitheater (I century BC, still used for bullfighting); the ruins of ancient Arelata along Via Aurelia, the road leading to Rome, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981; the medieval Cathedral of St. Trofim (in the Romanesque style of the 12th century, the Gothic elements were completed in the 15th century); "Van Gogh Hospital" (now a cultural center).
■ City of Marseille: the Abbey of Saint-Victor and the Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde (5th century), the Old Port, etc.
Curious facts
■ Artemia salt crustacean, whose length does not exceed 15 mm, can live in water with a salinity three times lower and six times higher than in the sea, but in fresh water it will die in about an hour. It lives in salt lakes and lagoons, almost never occurs in the open sea. The color of the animal depends on the concentration of salt: at a high concentration, the crustacean acquires a slightly reddish appearance. It is he who paints the Camargue lakes in such an unusual rich pink color to match the flamingos.
■ Sarah Kali (Gypsy Sarah) - semi-mythical saint, patroness of Catholic gypsies. According to legend, she was a servant of Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary and sailed with them on the ship after the death of Christ. In a severe storm, thanks to Sarah, the women managed to escape in a small boat: by the stars, she found her way to the shore. Legend has it that the women landed on the shore just at the site of the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
■ According to another version of the myth, Sarah was a nomadic gypsy, and she had a vision that the holy witnesses of the death of Christ should land on the shore at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and they need help. Allegedly, Sarah threw her dress into the water and floated on it to the boat, as on a raft, and helped to moor; the saved converted her to the Christian faith.
■ Arles lives by its past. There are colored signs on the cobblestones of the street pavements: blue arrows point to Roman Arles, green arrows point to medieval Arles, and yellow ones point to a poster with a reproduction of one of Vincent Van Rogh's paintings.
■ From February 1888 to May 1889, the artists Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh worked in Arles, and for the latter, despite the painful state of the psyche, it was an exceptionally productive period: in 15 months he painted about 200 canvases with a view of Arles and its environs, including the Camargue.
The region of Provence, the Camargue Natural Park is unique in every respect - it is unusual, colorful, with amazing expressiveness and beauty of nature, holidays like no other, gypsies in national costumes, bullfighting and mistral unpredictably blowing wind.
The park spreads over 857 square kilometers in the delta of the largest French river, the Rhone, and Professor Louis Mangin, who served as head of the French National Society for the Protection of Nature, took an active part in its creation in 1928. The Camargue received the official status of a protected area in 1970, when the question arose of protecting wetlands and the Mediterranean coast stretching over 343 square kilometers. Later, the park was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The nature of the Camargue park
The landscape is very interesting and unusual for ordinary state reserves. This is an ancient region, a third of its territory is occupied by reed marshes, and here you can also see salt marshes, sea lagoons, beaches, channels, stiff-leaved forests and sandy islands. The semi-steppe picturesque natural complexes are recognized as the last site on the European territory that has been preserved.
The main treasure of the Camargue Park is the world of birds, 272 species of birds nest here: birds of prey, waterfowl, near-water and passerines. But the main natural attraction of the reserve are flamingos. Ornithologists number about fifteen thousand of these graceful birds with pink plumage in the Camargue, a third of which remain in the park for the winter. It is only here that you can see beautiful birds at close range and it is best to admire this bird in the morning hours, when pink flamingos are being fed. True, the charm of flamingos sung by poets may fade under the impression of the merry scenes that play out during the feeding of these scandalous birds. They are constantly yelling, arrange it is not clear why disassembly and brawls, the noise is unimaginable while the ducks are quietly eating up the food scattered for the flamingos.
In the unique protected juniper forest, where trees reach fifty centimeters in diameter and rise up to seven meters in height, more than a hundred different species of mammals live in brackish estuaries and reed beds. " calling card» of the reserve, not only flamingos are recognized, but also small black bulls and are not found in any other European country wild white horses. Animals can only be seen at a great distance, if tourists want to take pictures for themselves, then the lens should be taken at least 400 mm.
There are three hiking trails in the Camargue Park: the Flamingo Trail, the Drover Trail and the Safari Trail. The Safari Trail invites tourists to drive around the park in an SUV, the Flamingo Trail to see wonderful birds, and the Drover Trail to admire wild boars and local bulls. When choosing a hiking route for yourself, tourists should definitely wear a hat and take mosquito repellent with them.
Attractions
An interesting legend is told about the Gypsy Mary temple, built in the fifteenth century: they built a chapel of the followers of Christ, whose names were the same - Mary, and they had a maid named Sarah. For some reason, the parishioners prayed to the maid in the hope that she would convey their prayers to her mistresses.
It is not known how things were in past centuries, and today only fifty people live in the Camargue Park, who like to organize fun mass celebrations for tourists, hold black bull fights and arrange theatrical performances, prancing on white horses. The bullfight held in the reserve is real and only Spanish bulls are released into the arena, as the local residents of the Camargue bulls feel sorry for them and play only bloodless games with them.
In the town of Sainte-Marie, you can see the bird museum, and in the town of Aigues-Mortes, a wonderful view of the park from the tower of the city wall offers a wonderful view.
Camargue Park is primarily a place where tourists are offered outdoor activities: cycling, horseback riding, fishing and, of course, hiking. You can also order an excursion by jeep or by boat on the water part of the reserve. In the vicinity of the Camargue Park, a beach holiday is possible.
How to get to the Camargue Park
The park opens to the public at nine o'clock in the morning, and the entrance ticket costs 7.50 euros.
You can get to the Camargue by sea, from the city of Arles and Nimes by bus and by renting a car. Bus tickets cost 5 euros and the trip will take from half an hour to an hour.
The Camargue (fr. Camargue) is a swampy area in the south of France, in the Rhone Delta, where several reserves are located. The total area is 145,300 hectares or 930 km². Landscape - solonchaks, reed marshes, sea lagoons, alluvial sandy islands.
It is divided by two arms of the Rhone into three main parts:
the Petite Camargue, west of the Little Rhone;
Plan du Bourg (Plan du Bourg) east of the Great Rhone;
and the central part, between the two branches of the Rhone, is occupied by the Great Camargue, most of which is occupied by the 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 swamps, which remained, for the most part, untouched until the 19th century. Then the drainage of large areas began in order to obtain suitable for Agriculture land and eradicate malaria by eliminating favorable breeding conditions for 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 activity (for example, in the extraction of salt) has 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 be traced back to the distant 1828, when the French Society for the Protection of Nature achieved a ban on hunting, fishing and collecting plants in the Camargue
In 1950, the Swede Luke Hoffman began to invest in the Camargue his considerable fortune at that time, he contributed to the opening of a biological station here, which helped to focus scientific activity on the study of the migrations of bird flocks.
In 1970, this region received Ramsar status, and then, in 1977, a biosphere reserve was established here.
This is a typical saline area, there are many reed marshes, sea lagoons, hundreds of channels, thousands of sandy islands. And all this natural splendor together is considered the last site in Europe, where relict semi-steppe natural complexes are still preserved.
By the way, the Camargue Reserve belongs to the Bouches-du-Rhone department.
As studies by scientists from the biological station have 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, thickets of tamarisk along the shores of lakes, areas of dry meadows with wild gladioli, violets, elecampane and irises, as well as saltwort growing on salt marshes along the shores of salt lakes and other salt-loving plants.
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 endless swamps are especially beautiful. In general, there is much more water on the territory of the reserve than land, so there is a double load for every square meter of land. So, many land areas here are planted with potatoes and melons, more flooded areas, as a rule, are occupied by rice fields.
When the protection dam of the Great Rhone was built at the end of the 18th century, vineyards and fields of alfalfa appeared in the northern Camargue.
They are mostly concentrated along the road from Aigues-Mortes to the coastal town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
Animal world
In total, about 300 species of birds have been recorded within the Camargue reserve.
The proximity of 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 shallow estuaries.
Early in the morning and late in the evening, they can fly in search of food to nearby swamps. Many of these swamps are private property where hunting is allowed by the owners. As a result, the number of birds wintering in the Camargue has halved.
The Camargue is a complex labyrinth of beaches, sand dunes, reed beds, estuaries, coastal forests and pastures, and salt pans. Such a variety of natural conditions, combined with a favorable 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 visit these places every year from northern Europe and even from distant Siberia.
These are places of mass winterings of European ducks, flamingos, sea plover, slender-billed gull, red-nosed pochard, stilt, avdotka and avocet, as well as meadow tirkushka (does not nest anywhere else in France).
Preserved thickets of freshwater reeds provide ideal nesting conditions for bitterns, red herons, yellow herons, little egrets, Egyptian herons, various warblers, marsh harriers.
The unusually high level of soil salinity created by the salt deposits makes this area especially favorable for the salt crustacean brine shrimp, which is an important prey for some species of birds, especially the pink flamingo.
These strikingly beautiful birds are the epitome of successful business in the Camargue. Since 1944, the number of nesting pairs of pink flamingos has steadily increased, and at the same time, the importance of this region as a place for their winter quarters has also increased: in 1991, 24,000 individuals were registered here.
The attraction of the Camargue for these birds lies in the presence of safe nesting sites in salt pools, in close proximity to places rich in 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 a beak painted one-third black in front.
In young birds in the first year of life, the head, neck, shoulders and primary feathers are grayish-brown in color, the bottom of the body is white. The pinkish coating on the plumage of adult birds becomes brighter over the years. The flamingo's voice is reminiscent of the deep gaggle of a goose.
These are exclusively flocking birds, they fly in a rare, not very clear oblique line and take off only after an energetic run.
Distribution: Flamingos are eaten special types food, so they can only live in certain places. They need shallow, more or less salty water bodies, most often lagoons, where they live in large numbers. necessary types small animals.
The largest flamingo colony in Europe is located in the Rhone delta (Camargue), the other is in one of the lagoons of Andalusia, there are colonies in Shop El Jerid in Tunisia, on the Moroccan and further Mauritanian coast of the Atlantic. Many colonies were destroyed by man, for example, in Sicily and in the Volga Delta, in the Nile Delta and in Sri Lanka.
The number of these birds worldwide reaches less than half a million individuals. Most of them live in the lagoons south of the mouth of the Indus.
Flamingos usually nest in remote and inaccessible salt marshes, so some of the colonies known in our time have been discovered quite recently. Birds breed only in years when the concentration of salts in the water is sufficient for mass reproduction of the animals that serve them as food.
Flamingos from the Camargue return after wintering in March, skirting the Mediterranean Sea, and meet in the nesting area with those few birds that did not fly anywhere. In April, if the year is favorable, they start breeding. Eggs parents incubate for about 30 days.
The Egyptian heron is slightly smaller than the little egret, its length is 51 cm, but it is larger than the yellow heron. The vast range of the Egyptian heron is spread over 6 continents. Over the past half century, it has successfully populated the Northern and South America, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, this beautiful heron was specially settled in places.
The Egyptian heron often feeds along with grazing cows or other livestock, preying on small animals that they frighten away - grasshoppers, beetles, lizards. Birds also readily eat blood-sucking mites and insects such as gadflies and horseflies. In summer, the bird is decorated with ocher-yellow feathers on the head, nape, back and chest, and the female has less of these decorations than the male.
In winter, these feathers, except for an ocher-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 ornaments on its back. The beak is short, yellow. Outside the colonies, the Egyptian heron is silent. Confident bird.
Distribution: meadows, rice fields, lake shores, often birds live next to humans near settlements. 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 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 absent only in large forest areas of the tropics, but herons willingly settle in those areas where forests are cut down. In the natural reserve of the Camargue in France, its numbers are growing rapidly.
Ornithologists are waiting for the first attempts of these birds to nest north of the Alps. But at the same time, Egyptian herons must learn new flight routes, as the Central European winter is too cold for them.
That this species can fly is proved by Eastern European populations, which remain in the breeding area only from March to August. African Egyptian herons hatch chicks during the rainy season, and some populations leave nesting areas for drought 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.
Of the amphibians and reptiles, the Camargue is home to the green frog, tree frog, marsh turtle, lizard, snake, membranous newt, Spanish spadefoot, spindle skink.
The mammalian fauna of the Camargue is much poorer. It is home to about 30 species of animals, common to other regions of Europe (hedgehog, 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 (boar, hedgehog, shrew, mole, hare, rabbit, squirrel, beaver, garden dormouse, badger, weasel, ferret, otter, bats and mouse-like rodents), local white “mustangs” are also distinguished - feral descendants of cavalry horses that came here in the Middle Ages, and semi-wild black camargues skye bulls, having an appearance similar to the European wild bull tour, which has now disappeared.
Black bulls here are more often called geographically - Camargue, this kind 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. The prehistoric roots of this breed are evidenced, as experts believe, by cave paintings of horses in the famous cave of Lascaux, made about 15 thousand years BC. e., and the fossilized skeletons, it seems, of their progenitors, found during excavations in Burgundy.
The Camargue has a rather primitive exterior: a heavy head, short neck, shoulders and back, a muscular backside, 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 eventually become so pale gray that in certain light they appear white. Camargue have become part of the life of the local population. These sturdy horses are used by guardian shepherds to lead herds of fighting black bulls, bred for the traditional Camargue bullfights, which begin every year in the first days of May.
Entrepreneurial farm owners have found another job for the calm but agile Camargue, putting horses under the saddle for tourists who come to admire the wildlife.
The surrounding swampy environment, with its harsh winds and salty water that freezes in winter, cut a really strong rock. “Horses of the Sea” is what the locals call the Camargue.
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