It could be said that the colour pink never goes out of fashion at Pomposa. We find it in the frescoed shades of the flesh tones of the figures and in the scenes inside the Abbey, we find it in sunrises and sunsets over the water, we find it among the feathers of the large birds with twisted beaks that ancient ornithological classifications called waders.
An imposing array, at the same time graceful and awkward, of pinks and pinks, in all their shades.
Seeing flamingos soaring, facing each other or resting, is not uncommon in Pomposa and its surroundings.
Black colour borders only their wings and the edges of their beaks, which seem to have the tip dipped like a fountain pen in ink.
Right on the sides of the beak are horny lamellae that filter the incoming water, leaving tiny crustaceans, algae and insect larvae inside the beak, while allowing mud and sand to escape. The colour of the plumage of these birds depends on this type of diet, as the crustaceans they eat are made up of orange-red organic pigments (carotenoids) which are deposited on their plumage. Each bird varies the colour of its feathers, all of which are white, depending on the amount of crustaceans consumed. The Artemia salina shrimp is one of these. Its eggs are very resistant and, mixed with dry mud, can survive for years even in extreme drought conditions. Their colouration is also linked to their diet, as the pink-orange colouration that characterises them derives from the carotenoids of the unicellular algae on which they feed.
The feathers shed by flamingos during moulting soon lose their pinkish hues as the pigments gradually degrade.
As the plumage renews, so does the make-up!