Portuguese Artist Bordalo II's Flamingos Wading on an Olhão Street

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The pink color of greater flamingos comes from their food rich in red-pigmented foods, such as algae and shrimp. However, the imposing Three Flamingos, with their long legs and curved beaks, in the City of Olhão, is made of 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of pinkish trash.

The mural of street artist Bordalo II celebrates the wading birds, which can be seen in the Parque Natural de Ria Formosa, in the Algarve, with Olhão as its gateway, reported NiT. Greater flamingos, the largest of six different species of flamingos, can stand at 120 to 145 centimeters (47 to 57 inches) tall and weigh 2.1 to 4.1 kilograms (4.6 to 9.0 pounds).

The Municipality of Olhão inaugurated Three Flamingos, which is part of its urban redevelopment strategy, on July 9. It wrote:

"The piece combines the Ria Formosa lagoon with representations of flamingos constructed from waste materials, conveying a direct message about the preservation of natural heritage and highlighting the need for greater civic responsibility in the conservation of public spaces, such as Parque Ribeirinho and the salt pans."

Olhão: 30 Years of Street Art

The installation was carried out by Bordalo II and local artists, most notably Sen, a native son of Olhão. The "trailblazing contributions" of Sen, also known as Dario Silva, "have rightfully earned Olhão the proud moniker of the "Capital of Graffiti", according to Lady in Red, an art gallery in Portimão.

"For over 30 years, Olhão was a global hub for graffiti, street art and other forms of street-level expression, largely thanks to Sen. Over time, those colorful walls gave way to new architecture or simply to coats of white and gray paint . . . but that's no tragedy as ephemerality is part of the process," Bordalo II wrote on Facebook.

"I had the pleasure of being invited to create a piece in this old playground, a work highlighting the environmental conservation of the Ria Formosa and its beautiful species. Combining my love for painting in public spaces with the opportunity to raise awareness about the local flora and fauna is one of my greatest sources of motivation."

The Parque Natural de Ria Formosa, with its channels, salt marshes and salt flats, is home to greater flamingos, which can be found there, more or less, throughout the year, according to a birding holidays agency. Located on the southern coast of Portugal, it is made up of 18,000 hectares (44,479 acres) of tidal marshes protected by a 60-kilometer-long (37 mile) system of sand-dune islands, which separate the land from the ocean, according to Visit Algarve, Portugal.

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The Parque Natural de Ria Formosa (Photo from Visit Algrave, Portugal, and Edelweiss)

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In the past, flamingos were rare in Portugal. Between November and March was the best time to see them before they flew to Spain, France, and other Mediterranean and North African locations. However, since the late 1980s, large flocks of flamingos have become commonplace in wetlands all year round on the central coast, Lisbon and the estuário de Tejo, the Alentejo and the Algarve, according to avesdeportugal. It is not uncommon to observe concentrations of many hundreds.

"Flamingos are nesting in Portugal for the first time!" announced the ICNF (Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas) on its website on May 22, 2021.

Two colonies nested after an initial, unsuccessful nesting attempt in Portugal in 2010.

The Algarve saw one flamingo colony successfully nest, with 550 chicks hatching from 880 nests, according to The Best Places to Find Flamingos in the Algarve, Lands Eco Boat Tours. The authorities kept the location secret.

The reason for the two nestings is not yet known, according to ICNF. Observations by nature rangers and technicians from the ICNF's Center for the Study of Bird Migration and Protection (CEMPA) indicate an increase in the species' feeding and resting areas in Portugal, coinciding with a reduction of human activity due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Bird of Mystery

The flamingo is an enigmatic and iconic bird.

For example, the somewhat erratic movements of the greater flamino do not allow it to be classified as either resident or wintering, according to avesdeportugal.

Also, why do flamingos stand on one leg with the other tucked beneath the body?

We do not know the answer. Although there are a few theories, such as conserving body heat and reducing energy expenditure, they remain theories, reported BBC Earth News (August 13, 2009).

The mystery and uniqueness of the greater flamingo most probably prompted its choice as the subject of Bordalo II's artwork.

Who Is Bordalo II?

Artur Bordalo was born in 1987 in Lisbon. He uses the name, Bordalo II, as homage to his grandfather, the painter Real Bordalo (1925-2017), according to his website.

"His youth took place between the hours spent in the studio of his grandfather Real Bordalo, who had an incessant passion for watercolors and oils and portrayed landscapes and typical scenes of the city and the adventures around illegal graffiti in the underworld of the city of Lisbon."

For eight years, the thirty-something artist attended the Painting course at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, but he never completed it.

"These years allowed him to discover sculpture, ceramics, and to experiment with a variety of materials that have distanced him from painting, which had taken him there in the first place.

"The public space would become the chosen stage for his explorations of color and scale and the platform where he gradually transformed his habits and channeled his experiences in the construction and development of his artistic work, which is currently focused on questioning the materialistic and greedy society of which he is (also) part. "