Friday 6th May (More Gulls and Terns)


Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window into a blue Meditteranean sky. After a leisurely breakfast Mr. Kite cycled into an area of The Camargue along tracks used by riders on white horses.

With twenty Greater Flamingos in front of him Mr. Kite watched them feed. Their legs are as long as their necks. Their becks are pink and large. Paddling their feet they swing their beaks from side to side to filter in  the food. So when they are feeding they are on the move walking in the shallow water. Mr. Kite also watched these large pink birds land in the water. This was feet down, head back, lots of flapping then touch down followed by a few quick steps and wings in.

Some birds then walked on the mud flats and Mr. Kite thought they looked a bit like walking camels with their long necks. Although they are pink and white with long thin pink legs they do seem to have dirty feet.

In the same stretch of water Mr. Kite watched Avocets sifting water as they fed and Black-winged Stilts using their beaks like a straw. Now Mr. Kites attention was taken by a gull with a longish thin beak that looked a bit like a Black-headed Gull. Looking more closely could see that the bill was longish and thin. Luckily this bird then walked out of the water onto the mud and it had longish orangey legs; a Slender-billed Gull.

It was then that Mr. Kite looked at the terns congregated on an island nearby. At the front the birds had black bills with a yellow tip and black legs, black forehead and a spiky crest; Sandwich Terns. Just behind sat two smaller terns with yellow legs and beck; with a small white patch on the forehead; Little Terns. On a post nearby sat a Common Tern.

Mr. Kite then rode back to The Joint on tracks, on roads, across grass and along the beach to enjoy a tipple of Kronenbourg. Cheers from Mr. Kite.