Photo of the month
In this section “Photo of the month”, discover a new photograph every month. This discovery will take place according to the seasons, the weather, the migration of birds and my encounters..
April 2025
Garganey is a dabbling duck, but slightly larger than its cousin, the Eurasian Teal.
The adult male is recognizable by its long white eyebrow, which tapers to the nape of the neck. It dons its breeding plumage in the spring: broad white eyebrows and blue-gray scapulars. In the summer, it adopts the same plumage as its female but retains light blue wing coverts.
In the Camargue, it is known as the cacharel, which is how Jean Bousquet from Nîmes adopted this name for his ready-to-wear brand, Cacharel.
March 2025
Black-crowned Night Heron is a stocky bird with a broad head, thick, short neck, and short legs. The adult has black crown and mantle. The black bill is short and thick. Wings, rump and tail are grey, and whitish underparts. Legs and feet are greenish-yellow. Black-crowned Night Heron does not take on its adult plumage until its third year. It is a bird that leads a rather nocturnal, or at least crepuscular, life. This makes its observation more difficult.
February 2025
Spotted Redshank is a species of wader belonging to the Scolopacidae family. It is a slender, long-legged wader, slightly larger than the Common Redshank. The plumage is completely different between winter and the breeding season, which has consequently earned it its name of harlequin. In winter plumage, the Spotted Redshank is entirely light gray, with a white eyebrow descending behind the eye. Legs are red. In breeding plumage, it is entirely black pigmented with white dots. The legs become black.
January 2025
In this month of January, the Flamingos are in full courtship. It is a show that we never tire of, and the opportunity to take some beautiful photographs.
It is a real choreography that these magnificent birds perform, four, five movements that they will repeat in a loop. They will raise their heads, spread their wings, show their magnificent color. This parade will last a few months, from December to February-March.
The goal of this courtship is to allow the Flamingos to find their partner for the coming season. Indeed, each year the Flamingos form a different couple, but which remains faithful during the year.
December 2024
Little Egret is Photo of the month. This is the most widespread of the egrets. It is recognized by its white plumage, its very elongated black beak, its black legs with yellow toes. This Egret, smaller than the Great Egret, has two very long, fine white ornamental feathers behind the crown, extending from the nape to halfway down the neck, and which play an important role during courtship.
If you want more details about this bird see the blog article
November 2024
Bearded Reedling is a tit-sized passerine bird with a long, stepped tail. Bearded Reedling male, in its breeding plumage, appears as a very rufous bird with a light-grey-blue head, which sports two long, very visible black “whiskers” starting from the lores. The throat is white, the beak is pointed and thin, and the iris is yellow-orange. Upper body, tail and flanks are very rufous. The white outer scapulars and the white edges of the primary flight feathers form two white bands on the side. Wing coverts, except for the greater outer coverts which are rufous, and the tertials are black with rufous edges.
October 2024
European Robin is a rather shy bird, its not very wild nature allows it to be approached easily and it willingly agrees to show itself. This small passerine is however of a very irascible nature. It defends its territory with unfailing determination against the intrusion of its congeners. This defense takes place whatever the season. The male and the female are almost identical, with a crown, wings, upperparts and tail of brown color, a gray band on the sides of the throat, a white belly and the famous “red throat”, more precisely of a dark orange color tending towards red.
September 2024
Odonata are an order of insects, often called dragonflies, with elongated bodies, equipped with two pairs of membranous wings that are generally transparent. Their compound and generally large eyes allow them to effectively hunt their prey. Their larvae develop in water, during the summer months they metamorphose into flying insects called “imago”
There are 43 species of dragonflies in the Camargue out of 83 listed in France. (source PNRC de Camargue 2005).
August 2024
Water rail is easily distinguished from other rails and crakes by its long, thin reddish beak. Adults have a slate-grey face and underparts. The mantle and wing coverts are brown with regular black patterns. The flanks are clearly barred with black and white, the legs are pink. During the day, the water rail lives hidden in the dense reeds of ponds, marshes and rivers with shallow water, although it can still be seen at the edge of reed beds. It is a solitary species, very discreet, rather difficult to observe.
July 2024
Spotted Redshank is a species of wader belonging to the Scolopacidae family. It is a slender, long-legged wader, slightly larger than the Common Redshank. It has a fine, slender appearance, characteristic of waders, with a long, thin, straight beak, marked by a red lower mandible. The plumage is completely different between winter and the breeding season, which has consequently earned it its name of harlequin. In winter plumage, it is entirely light gray, with a white eyebrow descending behind the eye. The legs are red. In breeding plumage, it is entirely black pigmented with white dots. The legs become black.
June 2024
White Wagtail, also called the Grey Wagglet, is a species of small passerine bird in the motacillidae family, the same as pipits and the sentinel. This species nests in most of Europe and Asia, as well as in parts of North Africa. It is sedentary in the mildest part of its habitat and migrates south in other cases. The White Wagtail measures between 16 and 19 cm, with its long tail agitated by nodding, it weighs about 25 gr.
May 2024
European Bee-eater of the Meropidae family is a skilled hunter, which captures insects in flight. This has earned it its nickname of “African Hunter”. These are mainly wasps, bees, hornets, as well as dragonflies in the Camargue. It is the size of a mistle thrush. Its metallic-reflecting colours are composed of turquoise blue-green on the belly, chest and lower wings, reddish brown on the back, crown and upper wings, dark green tail, black beak slightly curved and as if extended by a line of feathers also black, red iris in a black eye, yellow bordered with black for the bib.
April 2024
Black-winged Stilt belonging to the wader group is recognizable by its thin and straight beak, its white body plumage, its black wings, its very long red legs which clearly protrude from the tail in flight. The two sexes are almost similar. The female is brownish while the male is blacker.
Black-winged Stilt lives mainly near fresh and salt water marshes, and in mudflats, flooded fields and rice fields. In the Camargue, it is found near shallow expanses of water, generally salty in open areas.
March 2024
Pied Avocet deserves its name and has not usurped its description of elegant. This large wader is easily recognizable with its fine black beak curved upwards, its white plumage dotted with black spots, its blue-gray legs, its feet are webbed. Both sexes are similar. They are gregarious birds. It is very common to see them in groups, on the ground or in flight during migrations. Similarly, during the nesting period, these birds nest together, in dense colonies. It likes wetlands, with shallow water, and bare places, salt marshes, lagoons, marshes, mudflats. The Camargue has habitat areas favorable to it.
February 2024
Greater flamingo is the emblematic bird of the Camargue. It has an entirely light pink body, long webbed pink legs, a short, curved beak with a black tip. The primary and secondary flight feathers are entirely black and the coverts are bright pink with shades tending towards white. The legs, long and thin, are pink in adults. Their color comes from the carotenoid pigments present in the algae and crustaceans that they consume. There is sexual dimorphism in size in this species. Females are generally smaller than males. The Greater flamingo sleeps standing on one or two legs, its head hidden under a wing.
January 2024
Little Egret is a common and gregarious species. It is one of the species of small herons with immaculate white plumage. Like all egrets, it has a slender and elegant body. The black beak is a real dagger. It is long and thin, very slightly curved downwards. The long black legs have yellow toes. The Little Egret has an opportunistic diet. It feeds mainly on small fish, aquatic and terrestrial insects, crustaceans, amphibians, molluscs, spiders, worms, reptiles and small birds.
During the breeding season, it has two long, fine feathers of about 20 cm on the nape of its neck, called aigrettes.
