Henry Nixon sets out on patrol at sunrise. The smell of sulfur wafts from the nearby salt ponds that he drives by in his truck. He is greeted by the honks and squawks of thousands of flamingos well before he sets eyes on the pink birds.
The birds are both gangly and majestic. “The silhouette of the flamingos at sunset is striking, and their beauty in flight is breathtaking,” says Nixon. They build nests and feed in shallow pools teeming with brine shrimp. The pigment from the shrimp is what gives flamingos their pink coloring.