I was missing visiting a natural park! Probably over a year since I had done it here in Portugal. But fortunately, on my last vacations a few weeks ago, chose a beach location next to one of them, with the added bonus of being one of the few natural parks I hadn't visited yet.
It's in Algarve, in the south part of the country. A series of marshlands among the typical landscape of fields filled with cork trees, holm oaks, oaks, and bodies of water filled with with... birds, lots of birds! And the first species I've seen was exactly the one I was hoping to see!
The flamingos were there! Tons of them! Together with another common bird in these habitats.
The Stilts are the reason of this post's title. They have extremely long legs! In fact, their portuguese name is Pernilongo, with translates to "long legs"! Although yes, the flamingos win in legs length! 😄
These Stilts are fairly easy to recognize, leg size alone is enough! The white body, slim beak and black wings help to clear any doubts. The females have brown mantle, although sometimes it might not be that apparent.
I couldn't get a decent photo from a female to compare. Probably because I couldn't stop photographing the flamingos!
One good thing about the park, and a pleasant surprise: the interpretation centre was extremely well organized, even with mounted telescopes directed to the wetlands. It's great to see decent infrastructures to increase public awareness about these habitats, and their fauna and flora.
But of course, away from the centre is where all the fun is!
A couple kilometers away, another big group of these amazing animals. Some scattered smaller groups here and there, together with other birds; and even a hiding place to help in the observation.
Not that the flamingos seemed to care, they were at a safe distance from the land and most just minded their own business.
The bigger group was incredible. Honestly, I don't think I ever saw flamingos this big!!
Both sexes are similar, but the males are normally bigger and with more pink. And that huge neck in the back has to be from one of the males! Curious fact: their colour comes from the pigments present in the food they eat! They are filter feeders, eating small microorganisms, algae and sometimes even small insects; so the intensity of the colours in their plummage can vary.
Funny how the houses are so near the reserve. I wonder how many of the people living there actually take the time to come here and enjoy the show.
I've saw a ton of other species; even birds of prey decided to show up and pose for the camera.
I'll be sure to make a couple of more posts about this nature reserve. Meanwhile... more flamingos! Left some of the pinkiests ones to the end.
Happy birding everyone!
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