Ringing recoveries provide a valuable insight into the origins and dispersion areas of bird species. Figure 2 illustrates that western Mediterranean wetlands provide habitat for birds from a wide geographic range: all European countries but also other areas in the Mediterranean Basin, central and northern Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Ringed common coots and common snipes were mostly reported from continental Europe and Mediterranean areas, whereas mallards and common teals were also found in more northern places, including the former Soviet Union and Scandinavia. The pattern was slightly different for tufted ducks, for which >40% of recoveries were located in areas of taiga and tundra. Garganeys were recaptured in very distant places far north (Siberia, Finland), far east (Kazakhstan, Altai), and far south (Senegal, Mali) of the Camargue. In contrast to the previously described species, purple heron rings were recovered only from areas located south, including 4 countries in the Guinea Gulf in Africa (Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Sierra Leone). As a whole, we discerned 3 broad areas from which Mediterranean waterbirds come and potentially disperse pathogens: continental Europe, northern Siberia and Scandinavia, and sub-Saharan Africa.