La Camargue - Bird park

We were not expecting much and we were wrong. At 9:30am all the birds were awake, moving, eating, cleaning themselves, arguing, etc. you could hear them from the parking lot. It was incredible.

297 pictures, at least half of them of pink flamingoes… no comment

Starting smoothly with an owl

Followed by a vulture percnopterus

A red dragonfly

Egrets

Herons

Some unidentified birds

Stilt birds

Beavers and/or Coypus (I'm not sure exactly but it runs and swims fast)

Pink flamingoes

First glimpse at them... from the distance

(not very stylish when flying if I may say)

And getting closer

It's a pitty that such a beautiful bird from afar has such an uggly face, don't you think?

But why are they pink?

"Flamingo feathers obtain their wonderful rosy pink color from pigments in the organisms they eat. The flamingos’ feathers, legs, and face are colored by their diet, which is rich in alpha and beta carotenoid pigments.

Carotenoids in crustaceans such as those in the flamingo diet are frequently linked to protein molecules, and may be blue or green. After being digested, the carotenoid pigments dissolve in fats and are deposited in the growing feathers, becoming orange or pink. The same effect is seen when shrimp change color during cooking. The amount of pigment laid down in the feathers depends on the quantity of pigment in the flamingo’s diet. An absence of carotenoids in its food will result in new feather growth that is very pale; the existing pigment is lost through molting."

Thanks Alice for sharing your wisdom :)

Note for self: always plan to visit an animal park in the morning when they are active. In the afternoon, like many of us, they take a nap preferably in the shade, i.e. you can’t see them, and thus no picture.