Fascinated by pink flamingos? One of the best places to see them— fairly close—is in Camargue’s Rhone River delta in the South of France.
I recently traveled through Provence and drove south of Arles to spend a wonderful week in the Camargue. If you love nature, you’ve simply got to go! One of the places I visited was Parc Ornithologique du Pont de Gau to see the distinctive Greater Flamingos.
Up to 60,000 pink flamingos gather here in this park during spring and summer months, making sightings guananteed!
The park has two walking trail circuits. No hills, just flat packed dirt trails and boardwalks.
The trails wind through the marshy wetlands past ponds, lakes, and forested sections where you can observe birds from benches, observation towers or secretly spy on them up close from inside wooden hides.
And if you’re a photographer and want to capture birds in the best light, visit in late afternoon and stay till night. The entrance gates close at 7pm in summer, but you can stay till sunset wandering around the ponds till dark and simply exit through a one-way stile. This is a fantastic perk!
When I lingered past closing, crowds disappeared. Darkening skies with fluffy cotton candy clouds shifted into shades of pink flamingos, casting colorful reflections on calm waters. Ripples gradually quieted as the birds settled in for the night, their silhouetted forms still in the golden light. With bent heads, they began to fall asleep, balancing on one leg.
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Pink Flamingos are Social Creatures
These pink flamingos like to hang out together. They feed, sleep and fly in flocks. This makes them feel safe and less vulnerable.
During the day you’ll see large groups wading in shallow water, feeding on tiny pink shrimps, lavae and microscopic pink algae thriving in the briny salt water. Which turns their feathers pink. Wiggling webbed feet through the mud, they suck up water through their strange looking bills, which act as a strainer to filter out mud and silt from the food when positioned upside-down.
They also have a special gland near their nostrils for elimating excess salt. Without it, their drinking water would be toxic.
Watching them feed, you’ll notice that when a flamingo plunges its head into the water to fish, another acts as a lookout, surveying the horizon and alerting the others when necessary to make a quick getaway. All it takes is one pink flamingo to decide danger is lurking, and others follow suit. Getting a running start, they skim across the water, gaining speed and momentum before lifting off and soaring across the air.
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Fun to watch, but happens so fast that it’s hard to photograph!
Mating & Babies
Beginning in December, the Greater Flamingos start looking for partners and engage in mating rituals. The oldest male in the group usually begins the process–stretching his neck tall and ‘flagging’ his head side to side. Initiating behavior for the entire group, others soon imitate, whipping heads side to side in rapid succession. Like an odd choreographed dance. Then the wing-spreading begins to show off their brilliant colors. If a certain bird catches another’s eye, it starts making noisy calls to attract attention, and if the calls are reciprocated, they will partner up and mate for life.
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The Camarge region is the only place where flamingos nest in France. Greater Flamingos reproduce between April land July, producing a single egg. The female lays the egg in a conical mud mound, and both parents take equal turns sitting on that egg for the next month. Once born, the whole colony of flamingos raise the babies together. Baby chicks are born grayish-white and grow pink gradually around 3 years of age. Baby flamingos learn to fly when still little, around 10 weeks old. But as adults can spread their wings 65 inches wide, their wingspan longer than their 59 inch height.
In Autumn, most of the Greater Flamingos cross the Mediterranean and head south to Africa. But around 5,000 -6,000 stay put, year round, in the Camargue.
Other species in du Pont de Gau Park
You’ll also see herons, storks, egrets and small birds all over the expansive 60 hectare park.
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Sitting in the snack area, I watched herons fighting over a nest while a youngster looked on bewilderingly.
I also spotted a Nutria (usually nocturnal) swimming at dusk.
But of course, what people come here to see are the pretty pink flamingos!
Visiting Information
Open year round, the park rates are adults 8€, child 5€. Hours vary per season. Allow a couple hours. More if you’re into photography and bring your long lens and tripod.
A snack bar and restrooms are a short stroll away from the entrance gate. Concession hours and food choices are limited, but you can bring your own picnic lunch and sit at picnic tables under the awning. There’s a large parking lot, but it can fill up mid-mornings during summer months.
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