 The largest colony of greater flamingoes in the western Mediterranean comes annually to breed at the Fuente de Piedra Lagoon, by the village of the same name, in the north of the province of Malaga.This natural reserve covers 1,300 hectares and is surrounded by olive groves and cornfields. It is also home to over another dozen different species of bird including Kentish plovers and black-winged stilts.
Flamingoes from all along the Mediterranean and north African coast head for this spot every year, provided there is sufficient water in the lagoon, to breed. The twenty-four thousand adult birds turn Senrra Island, in the middle of the lagoon, from its winter earth-brown shades to pink in spring, and then to dark grey as thirteen thousand chicks hatch.
 In summer the lagoon turns into a salt flat with large 'puddles' of water near to the island. The chicks blend into the island landscape, safe from predators, while their pink and white parents roam around the lagoon.Flamingoes, with their huge wings, excellent sense of direction and enourmous capacity for gliding, are agile and fast. At dusk the adults take flight on food forages and can reach the Odiel wetlands in the province of Huelva, or the salt flats in the province of Cadiz. In two nights they can get as far as the Camargue region in the south of France.
These birds have been coming to Fuente de Piedra for hundreds of years, travelling thousands of kilometres every year. In March 'scouts' search out the most favourable breeding spots and report back, so that in years of drought alternative places are found.
Once they arrive, courtship commences with the females selecting their mate. The tasks related to breeding and rearing the chicks are shared jointly by the two parents. Just one egg per pair, incubated for 29 days, is laid.
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