Dates: April 15–25, 2026

Leader: Rick Wright

E-bird

Total Species: 119 birds

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Overall Summary

Continuously inhabited since the days of prehistory, the stunning natural landscapes of Provence’s Mediterranean coast are overlaid by an equally rich cultural history, making of this (generally) sunny region an ideal destination for travelers whose curiosity extends beyond birds to encompass architecture, food, wine, sculpture, and history. From our single hotel in lovely Arles, we had easy access to the marshes of the Camargue, the Alpilles, and to castles, museums, and churches, making this the perfect base for some of the best birding in Europe. Each day featured an 8:00 am start, after a lavish breakfast in our hotel, and included at least one short break between activities, with longer periods on a couple of days set aside for shopping, unstructured sightseeing, or simply resting up in the Provençal sun. We began on the shores of the Mediterranean, where curlew sandpipers and slender-billed gulls added a dash of color to the vast salt flats behind the dunes. On market day, we wandered from stall to glorious stall brimming with olives, shellfish, cheeses, pastries, and so endlessly on, then paid an atmospheric evening visit to the Crau, where we saw our first hoopoes and heard our first eery thick-knees. West of Arles, the Little Camargue and Scamandre produced all of the European herons, along with collared pratincoles, whiskered terns, and a great spotted cuckoo; nearby St-Gilles brought the Middle Ages to life with its spectacularly ornamented abbatial church. Straight north of the city, in the rugged limestone Alpilles, we birded the massive ruins of Les Baux, a castle with a sinister history, then moved to St-Paul, where beneath the shadow of Roman monuments, Vincent van Gogh painted during his stay in the psychiatric institution housed in an ancient monastic complex. The Pont du Gard and the Early Christian cemetery of the Alyscamps took us back even farther in time, both renowned sites alive with history and with birds. We spent our final warm and sunny day together in the famous reserve at Pont de Gau, where flamingos fed nearly at our feet and herons and ibis built their nests and raised their young in apparent oblivion of their human visitors; here too we finally had the long-desired clear views of singing Cetti warblers, while pied avocets and stunning spotted redshanks worked the shallow brackish waters.

Day-by-Day Summary

April 15 - Departures for France.

April 16 - Arrival in Arles, and the first of our splendid meals together.

April 17 - Mediterranean beaches and migrant traps for shorebirds, gulls, and passerines.

April 18 - Saturday market in Arles, evening visit to the steppes of La Crau for storks, hoopoes, and thick-knees.

April 19 - The Little Camargue and the abbatial church of St-Gilles, with pratincoles, great spotted and common cuckoos, herons.

April 20 - Castle and village of Les Baux, followed by St-Paul de Mausole and van Gogh, with blue rock thrush, alpine swift, and crag martin.

April 21 - The marshes of the wet Crau for lingering garganey, flamingos, and bee-eaters, followed by the Romanesque masterpiece of St-Trophime, Arles.

April 22 - Pont du Gard, with hoopoes, finches, and short-toed snake eagle.

April 23 - Scamandre for great crested and little grebes, squacco heron, and little bittern, followed by the Museum of Ancient Arles and LUMA.

April 24 - The marshes of Pont de Gau for nesting herons, gulls and terns, and reed passerines, with feeding flocks of flamingos.

April 25 - Tour concludes after breakfast in Arles.

Wildlife Seen: 

MAMMALS:

Nutria

Iberian Wall Lizard

European Green Lizard

Gallery