The greater flamingos chiefly occur in lagoons and salt or brackish ponds on the coast, wide deltaic areas and slimy expanses.

They can even be found in not deep lakes in the inland, both salt and alkaline, so long as water is not deeper than 1 metre. Flamingos as a rule are very sensitive to human presence, but they sometimes frequent artificial environments (such as the salt-pans of Margherita di Savoia).

They nidificate on small sandy or slimy islands, which just emerge from the surface of water. The presence of slime and sparse vegetation seems to be very important for the choice of the sites, even if some colonies have been found on small stony islands.

In the salt-pans of Margherita di Savoia the wintering of some specimens of flamingos became more frequent since 1992 and in 1995 the first attempt at nidificating (11 nests) in the reserve was recorded. In 1996 a colony of 250 specimens settled here and it grew in 1997, following the birth of 180 youngs.