 It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or "étangs", cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes which are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area.It is home to more than 400 species of birds, the brine ponds providing one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo.By considering the Maritime Alps, along the border with Italy, as a part of the cultural Provence, they constitute the highest elevations of the region (the Punta dell'Argentera has an elevation of 3,297 m).