Starting Over at the Top of the Oak

Omar Enrique Berdugo Cabeza was making his usual rounds at Fundación Loros when he glanced up toward the oak and noticed something that didn't quite fit: the nest of the chejas pair was empty. African bees had gotten there first, colonizing the interior with their eggs and forcing the pair to withdraw. But the story didn't end there. Days passed, the invasion was cleared, and the chejas came back. Without fanfare, without hesitation, they returned to their oak and began again from scratch — as if the lost time were simply part of what it means to build a nest. Further down the reserve, another pair was writing its own chapter. Guacamaya B29 had set out early in search of food while her companion, B127, waited framed in the opening of the nest, taking in the stillness of the morning air. This was not the nest they had originally been assigned — that one had been lowered for restoration, and when it was returned to the oak, the pair simply refused it. They found another and made it their own, every bit as resolute as the chejas, proving that at Fundación Loros, stubbornness and life are very often the same thing.