Two Herons and the Silence of Vista Hermosa

On the afternoon of March 4th, Jender Torres Álvarez was making his rounds through the grounds of Vista Hermosa when the landscape opened before him: a broad, generous green meadow, a herd of cattle in coats of brown, white, and gray grazing without hurry, and in the distance the hills cloaked in dense forest, with Cerro El Peligro keeping quiet watch from afar. Everything smelled of wet grass and open sky. Down on the ground, close to the cattle, two Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) moved with unhurried ease among the legs of the cows. With the precise and patient beak that defines them, they picked ticks from the animals' hides — an ancient exchange between species that the Colombian savanna knows by heart. The cattle, indifferent and well-fed, went on grazing as though nothing at all were happening. This kind of sighting, simple as it appears, speaks well of the land's condition: healthy livestock, wild birds woven naturally into the landscape, and a living corridor that ties the reserve to the hills on the horizon. Jender recorded it all with the unhurried eye of someone who has spent years learning to read the field.