Ebro Delta.

This was our last stop on the birding tour and one of the most sought after birds for me was the greater flamingo. I wasn’t sure if we would see any or even, how many, but within a few minutes of being in the proper habitat I saw one of these beautiful birds flying low over the water. Almost like a pink golf club with black and pink wings.

A “lawn” flamingo in a drought resistent Sunset District “lawn”.

The flamingo it truly an iconic bird. Iconic because I think that most of the world could identify a picture of a flamingo without every seeing one in real life. It’s is also a common bird in many zoos and in some parts of North America it is a common lawn “bird”.

This trip was already full of birds that only lived in field guides and BBC nature documentaries and it was amazing to see this flamingo being a flamingo in its native setting. This was no zoo and the flamingos wore no tags on their long legs. Here on the southeastern coast of Spain, these beautifully odd birds were free flying.

Flamingo group with a young one, Ebro Delta.

There is something beyond mere words to seeing natural behavior in a natural habitat. Watching the flamingos “swanning” was incredible. The flamingo could exploit so many food resources because of its long legs and neck.

A group of “swanning” greater flamingos. Their long legs allows them to wade into much deeper water than any other bird giving the impression that they are large pink swans floating on the water’s surface.