Vale da Lama morning, with flamingos

A temporary pond at first light: a mirror dappled in pink

Still more white than pink, in fact, but becoming more pink by the day (something to do with their diet, i gather), the wife & i have been seeing these birds in the early hours of each day, heading out on our morning walk… Then gone, an hour later on our return home, to who-knows where, though i suspect the Ria de Alvor estuary. They don’t “Murmurate” like the starlings, as i know from the one time i caught them departing, but stream off like a flock of arrows, heading East into the sun, now well over the horizon. Can’t count on their always coming back, as this pond is bound to dry up before we get much deeper into summer… So these mornings that we are graced with their visit are a blessing: a gift of our beloved landscape.