Le Marais aux Oiseaux

Little owls in a cage at the bird rescue park on Oléron

Another place we went to see on the Ile d'Oléron was called Le Marais aux Oiseaux — the bird marsh. We read about it and thought it would be a nice nature trail with opportunities for seeing local bird life.

A swan and her cygnets

Instead, it turned out to be a big bird rescue facility in a park. It was full of chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and swans. There were also some herons and cranes, some owls and falcons.

Cygnets

It was a nice walk and Cheryl and I both took a lot of pictures. But it wasn't the calm, serene nature trail we had pictured. There were several groups of school kids in attendance while we were there. The tiny kids, 4 or 5 years old, were really cute, but were a little intimidated by the geese and swans, which walked around at liberty. The groups of teenagers were rowdy, almost drowning out the loud goose and peacock shrieks.