A day in the Camargue

Today, we headed down to the Camargue for our first visit of the season.  It is still early enough to spot a few migrating birds, and the weather was mild, so off we went.

The first thing that we noticed that seemed out of the ordinary was wild yellow irises growing along the edges of canals.  In Oregon, this is an invasive species.  I'm not sure where they came from, but there were lots of them in bloom today.

Then we started looking for birds.  We saw several flamingoes, some stilts, a couple of species of gulls, egrets, herons, quite a few shelducks, and many swans.

A graceful pair of swans

But perhaps the most unusual thing that we saw was a group of people riding horses in the Mediterranean.  We often see horses in the Camargue, but hadn't seen people riding in the water before.  The water is warmer than the Pacific, but still a bit chilly to be out in.  They rode in the water for a while, then came out for a bit, then re-entered the water.

A kite flyer in the foreground, horses in the background

It's a holiday here in France, so truckloads of horses were brought to the beach so people could ride them.

Horse transport truck